Critical appreciation of A Thing of Beauty is a Joy for Ever.

Appreciation of the poem ‘A Thing of Beauty is a Joy for Ever’ The poem, ‘A Thingo f Beauty is a Joy For Ever’ by John Keats is a part of the poem ‘Endymion’ composed just three years before he died at the young age of 25 years. The rhyme scheme followed throughout in the poem is ‘aabbcc’. The figures of speech used to enrich the poem include Alliteration, Anti-climax, Antithesis, Assonance, Climax, Consonance, Epigram, Metaphor, Onomatopoeia and Personification. An example of Antithesis from the poem is “Such the sun, the moon, trees old and young” as contrasting ideas such as ‘old’ and ‘young’ are used in the same line to include all forms of living things on the earth. The central idea conveyed through the poem is that the loveliness contained in things of Beauty is everlasting and they enhance each moment, but will never cease to be. One can keep relishing its sweetness at all moments irrespective of the limits of time and space. The best thing about beautiful things is that they help a person relax and give him/her a deep sense of satisfaction, even in the toughest of times. They are like endless gifts that pour down like nectar from heaven and make the beholder happy. POETIC DEVICES Rhyme scheme: Rhyming Couplets (aabbcc) (forever, never, keep, sleep, breathing) Alliteration: Use of consonant sound at the start of two words which are close in series(Sleep-Sweet) Metaphor: bower Quiet (calmness of the bower is compared to the calming effect of a beautifult hing)

Anaphora: Use of same word in two consecutive lines (of noble natures- Of all the unhealthy)

Alliteration: Use of consonant sound at the start of two words which are close in series (‘b’ inBand Bind, ‘n’ in Noble nature, ‘s’ in some shape). Metaphor: wreathing a flowery band (the beautiful things of our life bind us to the earth) Inversion: normal order of words is reversed ( Are we wreathing a flowery band) Alliteration: Use of consonant sound at the start of two words which are close in series (‘s’ inSprouting Shady, Simple sheep, ‘c’ in cooling covert) Antithesis: opposite words placed together (old and young) Alliteration: Use of consonant sound at the start of two words which are close in series (‘h’ in have heard)