Mod B Comparative studies: Collected works of Keats and Jane Campions Brightstar

[Shahriar Khan]

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Q) Compare the ways in which the author uses the conventional features of each text type to explore similar ideas.

A) A change in form and context invariably leads to a change in perspectives in the exploration of similar ideas and in the execution of similar techniques. In the collected works of John Keats and the 2012 film ‘Brightstar’ directed by Jane Campion, both composers utilise techniques to explore the romantic techniques and conventions. Through the use of romantic techniques in his poetry Keats is able to represent complex and cumulative themes such as the nature of love and death. ‘Brightstar’ imitates Keats’ use of romantic techniques such as imagery and the exploration of conventional romantic themes by employing the use of camera angles, props, colours and lighting. However, the disparate contextual backgrounds of both composers, Keats’ Victorian disposition and Campion’s postmodern feminist perspective are juxtaposed. Through Campion’s use of film techniques such as camera angles, props and the plot, she is able to both mirror and collide with Keats poetry.


Keats Utilises imagery to create picturesque scenery using sensuous words which stimulate all the senses, this is evident in his ‘Ode to Autumn’. In his poem Keats is able to paint evocative mental images in rapid succession. In the introductory stanza, Keats presents to the reader Autumn in all its bounty and ripeness, using rich and sensuous imagery to create indelible impressions.  Lines 5-11 are replete with intense imagery, where Keats writes: “To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells With a sweet kernel”, superficially a reader can appreciate Keats’ use of  imagery, his words appeal to the taste buds and imbibe the tongue with the flavours of Autumn fruits. Through his use of imagery, Keats is able to transport readers to the setting of the poem and experience the sights and tastes of his surroundings, this enables him to display to the responder the intense amount of life that blossoms during autumn. Campion, conversely uses various camera angles and other contemporary techniques to emulate Keats’ use of imagery. In many instances campion uses sweeping low angle shots of the scenery of the 19th century countryside, fields and woods, providing the audience a full view of the surroundings effectively transporting the responder to the world of the narrator, Fanny Brawne, thus emulating the vicarious nature of Keats’ imagery. Campions appreciation of keatsian visuals is further exemplified through a shot of Fanny Brawne in a meadow of May flowers, a prime example of campions attempt at capturing 19th century romantic aesthetics. The close up shot of the blue of fannys clothing and the violet of the may flowers create a cataclysm of blue, this, in tandem with the lowered branches of the trees form the foreground of the scene, producing an ethereal fantasy placing Keats’ romantic imagery on the centrestage. Keats’ use of sensual imagery in Ode to Autumn appeals to the tongue, indeed, through her use of mise-en-scene Campion is able to create striking visual imagery that pleases the eye. Therefore it is through her use of camera angles that Campion is able to mirror Keats use of sensual imagery, despite the disparate forms of media.


In addition to sensual imagery, Keats also utilises emotional imagery through which he is able to convey feelings to the audience without explicit implications. Through his use of connotations Keats is able to portray emotions to the responder by the way of the connotative interpretations of his diction. This is observable in the third and final stanza of ode to autumn, as Keats employs words such as “softly-dying”, “wailful”, “mourn”, “sinking” and “dies” to fabricate a lamentable atmosphere in which his surroundings mourn the passing, or death, of autumn and the coming of winter. Keats imagery serves as a conduit through which responders can experience Keats’ emotions by proxy. Parallels can be drawn between Keats’ emotive use of imagery and Campion’s expression of romantic techniques through her use of camera shots and plot to achieve the same effect. Campion utilises the romantic technique of pathetic fallacy through the changing of the seasons and their connotative symbolisms to represent the phases of brawns’ and Keats’ relationship. Using shots of nature and the chirping of cicadas to indicate summer, Campion uses the season’s symbolism of young adulthood and initial romantic experiences to depict Brawne’s and Keats’ romance growing after their initial meeting. In an extension of her placement of flowers in her mise-en-scene, Campion uses the season of spring to denote the  blossoming of their romance, peaking with their impromptu “marriage” in the garden. Additionally, Campion continues to use the connotative implications of the seasons during the film’s depiction of winter. Often denoting death, Campion uses winter and its associated coldness to depict the most strained periods of Keats’ and Brawne’s relationship, evident through the arguments that ensue after Keats announces his moving to Italy for his health’s sake. Many of the high impact argument scenes are accompanied by icy grey hues to subtly imply the presence of winter. Hence, through her filmic expression of pathetic fallacy Campion directly mirrors Keats’ use of emotive imagery. 


Further inspection of his poetry draws light to Keats’ use of contrasting lengths of consonants to orchestrate ambiences and convey unspoken imagery to the responder. This is illustrated in his ‘Ode on A Nightingale' where Keats uses a high preponderance of words with long vowels. The use of long vowels in this poem begins in the very first line, “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains”. The words with long vowels (my, aches, drowsy, pains) slow down the line, reinforcing the feeling of drowsiness, lethargy, and achiness. This is further explored in his ‘Ode to Autumn’, where the use of soft consonants – m, h and f, coupled with shorter and longer vowels in lines 5-11 mirror the suspense as the fruits ripen and plump up with seasonal flavours. Campion tastefully emulates Keats manipulation of consonants in her use of lighting, audio and costuming to convey the unspoken emotions in a scene. This is exemplified in scenes of loss, namely the death of  Keats younger brother. Campion ensures a macabre atmosphere by draping the scene in dark and shady overtones, characters wear darker garb: mostly greys and navys to ensure a consistent dark lighting. Campion couples this with the soft pitter-patter of rain and a sombre violin melody in the periphery, all of which creates a sorrowful ambience and heightens the grief emanating from the scene. In the “marriage” in nature scene, however, Campion alternatively uses the sun to insert very warm and bright lighting into the scene; all the characters can be seen in bright clothing with Toots wearing a light pink frock and Brawne wearing a white and red dress; and in the background a bright concerto of viola and cello plays happy melodies, which all work in unison to build a joyous atmosphere helping to produce the climax of keats and brawns romance. Keats usage of imagery in his poems aim to produce mental images in the minds of the reader and orchestrates emotions the images portray, and it allows the reader to experience the scenes vicariously and gain a much deeper understanding of his poetry. Likewise, Campion utilises framing, close-ups, lighting and colours to amplify the emotions conveyed through her film.

As part of the Romantic conventions, the theme of death is often explored in Keats’ poetry. The looming presence of death and the desire for immortality in his poetry can be explained by the many tragedies that Keats experienced in his life; the deaths of his mother, father and younger brother bestrode him through his creative years causing him to yearn for his own immortality. Ode on a Grecian urn is especially relevant in this regard, in his poem Keats admires a very old vase and the inscriptions on it, he is enthralled by the vase and he admires its posterity and how the people in the pictures on the urn will remain forever young. he proceeds to say that though the, “Bold Lover,” can “never, never... kiss” his love and the youth giving chase will never attain their love, the euphoric emotions they feel shall never fade, and that the articles of their love,“ cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss”, concluding that “For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!”. However, In the segue between stanzas 3 and 4 there is a harsh change in tone where “more happy, happy love!” is starkly juxtaposed to “Who is coming to the sacrifice”, this signifies Keats returning to reality after his reverie. The change in tone suggests that Keat accepts the unattainability of immortality. The use of  “warm” in the third stanza alludes to the futility of immortality, as it refers to the urn itself, with its unmoving characters forever silent and its maker long dead, far from warm. When Keats the contemplates the “all breathing” experience, Keats reaches the conclusion that to be human is to live, to love and to lose. Similarly in her film, Campion uses motifs to explore the theme of death, namely butterflies. In romantic poetry, butterflies often denote love, life and rebirth, as such it represents the fleeting emotions that Keats’ wishes to immortalise in his poetry. Campion utilises plot to explore the transient nature of love and life. At the peak of their romance, when Keats writes Brawne a moving letter which inspires her to fill her room with butterflies as they remind her of Keats. Campion uses the multicoloured butterflies fluttering about in the room as the sun floods the room accompanied by light and cheerful violin plays in the background, to create an ambience that emanates serene love. However, as Keats learns in ode on a Grecian urn, love is an ephemeral emotion; the butterflies fade and die, and Brawne’s desire turns toward torment. Following an argument between Keats and Brawne, Campion utilises the butterflies to reflect the evanescent attribute of love.  After an argument with Keats Brawne lashes out, Campion orchestrates a morbid scene: winter is in effect and Brawne’s room is flooded with an icy grey, tears run down fannys face, and her butterflies lie dead at her feet. Through the death of the butterflies Campion is able to explore the same sentiment of transience as in Keats’ “Ode on A Grecian Urn’.

The dissimilar time periods of both composers results in incongruent portrayals of femeninity, this is most evident in Keats’ depiction of women in comparison to Campions postmodern, post feminist reconstruction of fanny Brawne. Keats’ impression of women is best understood through his interactions with the women in his life. In a recovered letter to his friend,  Keats wrote to his friend regarding his apprehension of the opposite gender where he writes that he is, “full of suspicions when in their presence”, thus it is apparent that Keats’ portrayal of women stems from his intimidation by them. This sentiment is echoed in his poem la belle dame sans merci wherein the narrator finds a knight “ So haggard and so woe-begone” on a cold hill after a calamitous encounter with an elfin seductress. The female character portrayed in the poem is that of a wretched femme fatale, who seduces innocent men, and betrays her lovers to steal their life force. Conversely, the opposite is true in Keats' Ode on a Grecian urn. In this poem, he presents the female characters as “fair” maidens, for whom men give an eternal chase and play the sweetest of unheard melodies. Using such biblical allusion as evergreen trees and eternal youth to compare the setting to the gardens of eden, by extension Keats presents the “bold lovers” as pure. This is Keats’ dichotomy of femininity, wherein women are depicted as either fair maidens who proffer security and love, or treacherous temptresses who betray and hurt. Campions reconstruction of fanny Brawne, however, deviates from either category and stems from a post-modern feminist ideology. Campion depicts fanny as neither the cold-hearted lover nor as a complacent victim, campion chooses to relinquish moral judgment and refuses to represent fanny as helpless. Campion harbours a strong inclination towards feminist ideals and all her films feature strong female protagonists fighting the constricting societal norms and inequalities forced upon them. These constricting societal norms were very present in Keats’ era where the purpose of a female was to serve her husband and family, and not much more. Campion portrays brawne as an artistic and creative woman by showcasing her creativity to the audience at the beginning of the film as she stitches clothing, proving that even when the creativity of women were stifled by societal norms fanny was able to fulfil her creative endeavours. Campion characterises Keats’ close friend Charles brown to represent the chauvinistic values of 19th century England. Ever since both Brown and Brawne grace their first scene together Brown undermines Brawne’s intelligence by mocking her clothing and criticizing her taste in poetry. It is Brown who warns Keats regarding his relationship and voices concern that his relationship with fanny might cost Keats his creativity, much like la belle in Keats poem seducing him and leaving him abandoned. However, Campion, through the plot of her film, shows that the opposite is more likely. In the scenes where Keats is seen writing poetry in the film it is always in close proximity to Brawne or after some contact with her, this depicts Brawne as an inspirational force behind Keats’ poetry  as well as hinting that he wrote some of his most famous poems while in love with her, namely ‘Ode on A Nightingale’ and ‘Brightstar’. In a society where the female identity was described as either submissive or sexually transgressive, campion refuses to let fanny be defined by her societal norms, and her portrayal of Fanny Brawne collides with Keats’ preconceived notions regarding the true intentions of women.

As the ages pass, the sentiments of yore are replaced with more relevant and often very different schools of thought, this is evident in the comparison of Campion’s ‘Brightstar’ and her Muse, Keats’ Poetry. Through her use of modern film techniques such as  camera angles, props and plot Jane Campion is able to depict the romanticism that defines Keats’ poetry. Even though Campion’s ‘Brightstar’ is blatantly inspired by Keats’ poems, the divergent epochs of the composers results in many resonances and dissonances between the texts. As such, the changing of changes in form inevitably lead to different perspectives on the same ideas.