Exploring Spirituality in the Romantic Vision of John Keats’s Major Odes: A Hermeneutic Analysis

Abstract

John Keats, an influential romantic poet, is best known for his odes tinted with the nature’s vistas and spiritual insights. This article attempts to explore spirituality in the romantic vision of his five major odes “Ode to a Nightingale”, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, “Ode on Melancholy”, “Ode to Psyche”, and “Ode on Indolence” through a comprehensive review of these odes. This study was based on an exploratory research design in which the lines extracted from these nodes were considered primary qualitative data. Such excerpts as data underwent a hermeneutic analysis, which is a qualitative approach that interprets literary texts and social phenomena by considering historical, cultural, and contextual influences. The supporting materials regarding romantic vision, odes, spirituality, hermeneutic analysis, and religion were assumed to be secondary data extracted from books, journal articles, and website documents. The findings reveal the vigorous existence of profound spiritual intuition in the romantic vision of his major odes. This article is significant as it highlights how Keats’s poetic exploration of beauty, mortality, and transcendence can inspire readers to reflect on profound spiritual questions and connect with the universal themes of human existence.