The Sanctuary of Acceptance: Love and Identity Through the Letters and Poetry of John Keats

Authors

Amanda Caridad Estevez Ms., Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

English

First Advisor's Name

Maneck Daruwala

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Michael Gillespie

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Third Advisor's Name

James Sutton

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Fourth Advisor's Name

Ana Luszczynska

Fourth Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Member

Keywords

John Keats, Romantic Era, Poetry, Letters, Love, Identity, Sanctuary, Phenomenology, Transgression, Deconstruction

Date of Defense

11-15-2019

Abstract

In this thesis, I propose to explain how it is that the life and work of John Keats assists us in answering the question of how we create ourselves through the presence of others. I aim to do this through an analysis of the work that his relationship with Fanny Brawne inspired. In doing so, I hope to prove that romantic love creates a sort of metaphysical sanctuary for us to inhabit as we shift through the various incarnations of our identity throughout our lives. By synthesizing the theories of phenomenology and transgression, I hope to demonstrate how Keats’ rapid development as a poet was made possible through the sanctuary of acceptance that his love for Fanny Brawne afforded him. These concepts are divided into four sections. The first is a general overview of relevant definitions/terms as I understand and incorporate them. The second discusses how I perceive identity and its construction through influence. The third discusses Keats’ concept of Beauty as a philosophy of truth-making, and how that plays into identity formations. The last section explains how I see love as being necessary in perpetuating these new incarnations of self to occur due to the sanctuary of acceptance that it affords us.

Identifier

FIDC008876

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Estevez, Amanda Caridad Ms., "The Sanctuary of Acceptance: Love and Identity Through the Letters and Poetry of John Keats" (2019). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4286.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4286