Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition
Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition - context Summary
Critique of Religious Superstition
Written in 1817 as a critique of religious superstition, this sonnet records Keats’s rejection of gloomy, ritualized piety. He contrasts funeral-like church ceremonies with the renewing powers of nature and art, insisting that such rites are transient ‘‘sighing, wailing’’ before oblivion. The poem reflects Keats’s skepticism about organized religion and his belief that living creativity and natural renewal outlast dogma and ritual.
Read Complete AnalysesThe church bells toll a melancholy round, Calling the people to some other prayers, Some other gloominess, more dreadful cares, More harkening to the sermon’s horrid sound. Surely the mind of man is closely bound In some black spell; seeing that each one tears Himself from fireside joys, and Lydian airs, And converse high of those with glory crown’d Still, still they too, and I should feel a damp, – A chill as from a tomb, did I not know That they are dying like an outburnt lamp; That ’tis their sighing, wailing ere they go Into oblivion; – that fresh flowers will grow, And many glories of immortal stamp.
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