Examining John Keats s reworking of the romance genre, Rachel Schulkins argues that he is responding to and critiquing the ideals of feminine modesty and asexual femininity advocated in the early nineteenth century. Through close readings of Isabella; or the Pot of Basil, The Eve of St. Agnes, Lamia and La Belle Dame sans Merci, Schulkins offers a re-evaluation of Keats and his poetry designed to demonstrate that Keats s sexual imagery counters conservative morality by encoding taboo desires and the pleasures of masturbation. In so doing, Keats presents a version of female sexuality that...
Examining John Keats s reworking of the romance genre, Rachel Schulkins argues that he is responding to and critiquing the ideals of feminine modesty ...