Lamia and Other Poems

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John Keats' "Lamia" is a very early piece (year 1819?) of Gothic literature bringing life to the conventions of the Gothic. Like other "second generation" Romantic poets, he sought to revive the early political and social radicalism of the "first generation." Inspired by such events as the French Revolution and other chaotic uprisings, Keats rebelled against the rigid and predictable ideals of neo-classicism, which was rational, imposing, and relied heavily on form and structure. Hence Keats’s poetry was everything that the classical was not — disordered, illogical, supernaturalised, and anti-conventional in a way that stunned the neo-classical world. More than bringing life to conventions of the Gothic, Keats brought life to the literary world by contributing poetic forms and subjects that were completely foreign and novel.

The setting of "Lamia" is fantastically radical. The beginning of the poem supplies such a setting:

"Upon a time, before the faery broods

Drove Nymph and Satyr from the prosperous woods"

Already, from line one, we have a setting that’s both very supernatural and very isolated, two important features of the Gothic. The setting also suggests a lost period, a time before any we can recall. The setting also exposes a concern with nature. Nature is an important element of Gothic setting, and Keats emphasizes the vitality of nature by personifying it as a character in the poem. For example,

"From rushes green and cowslip’d lawns"

that was

"breathing upon the flowers his passion new,

and wound with many a river to its head"

The creature, Lamia, herself is even described as an animal, with nature playing a large part in the description:

"Striped like a Zebra, freckled like a pard, / Eyed like a peacock".

Hence, like Frankenstein, nature plays a large part in "Lamia," but in slightly more supernatural sense. Not only is Lamia described as being connected with nature, but she is described as supernatural:

"She was a Gordian shape of dazzling hue",

She is composed of both mortal and immortal elements, which was unusual in literature at the time:

"Her head was serpent, but ah, bitter-sweet,

she had a woman’s mouth, with all it’s pearls complete".

Keats brings the unusual convention of the supernatural to life by intertwining familiar and unfamiliar elements when describing Lamia. Sexual temptation is another convention of the Gothic that Keats uses in "Lamia". He brings this convention to life because rarely was extreme sexual temptation used in neo-classical texts. He also makes it unusual by creating the desire of a mortal for an immortal being. Lamia is described as a temptress, e.g.:

"...some penanced lady elf,

some demon’s mistress, or the demon’s self".

This is also a biblical allusion, which are scattered throughout Keats’ poem. They serve to counteract the neo-classical references by alluding to less recommended stories and figures, such, in this case, as the devil. Lamia herself seems to parallel the serpent from the Garden of Eden, and there are references to the Book Of Genesis. Not only are there religious references, but other references include Milton’s Paradise Lost, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and, importantly, Greek mythology, for example, "Apollo’s presence". Confinement and claustrophobia are also utilised in the poem.