Flight with the Nightingale: Keats's Ambivalence and Struggle

與夜鶯飛翔：濟慈的矛盾和掙扎

10.7060/KNUJ-HA.200912.0015

郭章瑞(Chang-Jui Kuo)

反面能力 ； 想像 ； 矛盾 ； 飛翔 ； 現實 ； negative capability ； imagination ； ambivalence ； flight ； reality

高雄師大學報：人文與藝術類

27期（2009 / 12 / 01）

15 - 23

英文

本論文以〈夜鶯頌〉中濟慈與夜鶯的飛離塵世為切入點，主要探討濟慈的反面能力及其在詩作中的運用。文中論證濟慈雖然渴望飛離其所處之庸俗世界，卻仍常被拉回現實。這渴望與現實的衝突，正為濟慈帶來生存的力量，更賦予本詩無限的張力。 本文文末則指出雖然濟慈無法擺脫矛盾情懷，也未能成功地運用反面能力於詩作，但至少他努力嘗試過。身為現代讀者的我們，實際上也可以像濟慈一樣地嘗試運用反面能力。因此，濟慈與我們都需要想像力及反面能力，它們雖然無法真正地將我們帶到一個無憂無慮的世界，至少能使我們在短暫時間裡獲得超越，享受生命的喜悅。

Beginning with disentangling John Keats's flight with the bird in ”Ode to a Nightingale,” this paper aims to study Keats's debatable theory of negative capability and his practice of it in the poem. It will demonstrate that though Keats yearns to fly with the bird and escape from the mundane world, he is still constantly pulled back by reality; however, it is the agon between wish and reality that not merely offers Keats the strength to live on but also gives the ode its poetic tension. This paper will conclude that though Keats cannot get rid of his ambivalence and is not completely successful in applying negative capability to his writing, at least he tries. We, modern readers, can try, too. Not only Keats but also we need both imagination and negative capability, because even though they cannot take us to a carefree world, they at least enable us to be detached as well as transcendental for a while and, thus, make our life bearable and, hopefully, enjoyable.

1. Abrams, M. H(1958)。The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition。NewYork:W. W. Norton。
2. Bloom, Harold(1970)。The Visionary Company: A Reading of English Romantic Poetry. Revised Ed。Ithaca:Cornell UP。
3. Frost, Robert(1969)。Ed. Edward Connery Lathem。New York:Rinehart and Winston。
4. Greenblatt、Stephen、et al. ed(2006)。8th Ed. Vol. 2。NewYork:W. W. Norton。
5. Keats, John(1935)。2nd Ed. Ed. Maurice Buxton Forman。New York:Oxford UP。
6. Keats, John(1970)。Ed. Miriam Allott。New York:W. W. Norton。
7. Social Analysis
8. Strachan, John, ed(2003)。A Routledge Literary Sourcebook on the Poems of John Keats。London:Routlege。
9. Thorpe, Clarence D(1926)。The Mind of John Keats。New York:Oxford UP。
10. Wasserman, Ear R(1964)。The English Romantics。Studies in Romanticism，4(1)，17-34。