Psyche re-mythologized : Keats' religious attitude in 'Ode to Psyche'

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  • 「サイキに寄せるオード」に見るキーツの宗教観と神話的表象
  • 「 サイキ ニ ヨセル オード 」 ニ ミル キーツ ノ シュウキョウカン ト シンワテキ ヒョウショウ

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Abstract

Not a few researchers have recently illuminated, by way of historicism and gender criticism, the new aspects of John Keats' 'Ode to Psyche', notably in the light of contemporary skepticism. Many Histricists read this ode as a product of Keats' admiration of ancient mythology and his riposte to the Christian challenge to pagan mythologies as in John Milton's 'Nativity Ode'. A close reading, though, of 'Ode to Psyche' , as well as of Keats' letters, shows that his religious attitude is not so simple as some critics presume it to be. This article analyzes mythological images in 'Ode to Psyche', to clarify Keats' ironical attitude to his skeptic age, by referring to his comments on religion in his letters. Struggling against the current skepticism in his age, Keats re-mythologized in one of his greatest odes the classical personification of 'love and soul', with a flavor of Christian allegory, to reveal implicitly his unchanging belief that the unflawed soul is greeted with merciful love at last.

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