International Journal of Language & Literature

A Bakhtinian Dialogical Nature of Theme in Keats’s Odes as a Circular Escape from Pain to Pleasure
Somayyeh Hashemi, Bahram Kazemian

Abstract
This paper, applying Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of dialogism as a theoretical starting point, attempts to study the manifestations of dialogic voice in Odes by John Keats. In essence, this study investigates the dialogic reading of ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, ‘Ode to Psyche’, ‘To Autumn’ and ‘Ode on Melancholy’, regarding thematic viewpoints. A scrutiny upon Keats’s odes through dialogical viewpoints may disclose that Keats is an involved and social poet of his time. Besides, Keats as an escapist poet clings to the world of fancy and imagination to release himself from conflicts of his society. Keats’ odes are dominated by expression of joy-pain reality through which he, in an intimate dialogue with readers tries to show his own social and political engagement. Examining various themes within the odes may display Keats’s historical response toward a troubled society and human sufferings in general.

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