Discuss two different characteristics of Romanticism in the poetry of John Keats. Give an example for each.

Keats famously wrote that  a poet was a kind of
'physician' to humanity whose job was to 'pour out a balm onto the world.' Of course,
this 'balm' was created partly by a focus on nature as a source of solace to the
sufferings and trials of life. This is an aspect of Romanticism that can most clearly be
seen in 'Ode to a Nightingale' when the speaker achieves a transcended state and is able
to fly with the nightingale metaphorically through his
poetry:

Away!
away! for I will fly to thee,

Not charioted by Bacchus and
his pards,

But on the viewless wings of
Poesy,

Though the dull brain perplexeds and
retards...

Thus poetry and
its influence is able to help the speaker leave the earth, which is characterised as a
place of 'no light' and of suffering in which man is forced to joylessly live until his
death.

Another aspect of Romanticism which we can see in
the poetry of Keats is the way that meditation on beauty can give us a real appreciation
of life and the beauty within life. This can be seen in the focus on the eternal beauty
in 'Ode to a Grecian Urn':

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When old age shall this generation
waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other
woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou
say'st

'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,'--that is
all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to
know.

Note how beauty is
shown to be able to instruct humanity on some important truths that are necessary for
our survivial. The urn is therefore called 'a friend to
man.'

Thus by its focus on the beauty of nature and its
healing influence and the meditations on beauty, Keats establishes himself as a truly
Romantic poet.