A Pre-Raphaelite Keats: Visuality, Gender and Reputation

In his 'Romantic Capabilities,' Mike Goode asserts that many texts have inherent capabilities for transmediation. These capabilities aren’t necessarily there by conscious intention of the original author. My research aims to apply Goode’s theory to the Pre-Raphaelite transmediation of Keats’s poetry into visual art. I aim to discuss how the Brotherhood recognised qualities within Keats’s original poetry that made it particularly suitable for adaptation into a visual medium. However, their interpretation of Keats’s work was highly selective, conditioned by their own interests as well as the inherent capabilities of the poetry, especially with regards to the representation of gender. By first looking into Keats’s aptitude for visual descriptions followed by an investigation of his unusual stance on gender, the thesis will then explore how the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood interpreted Keats’s poetry in such a way as to influence both modern day understandings of both his poetry and his person. The thesis not only looks at the core Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of Wiliam Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, but also considers the poetic and artistic contributions of female affiliates of the group such as Effie Gray, Christina Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddal. The dissertation then looks at the impact of how the Pre-Raphaelite conceptions of Keats contributed to the Romantic poet’s post-humous biography. By tracing Keats’s standing before the Pre-Raphaelites, this study examines how the group contributed towards the still prevalent myth of ‘poor Keats,’ helping to ensure its longevity. Such is the impact of both the Pre-Raphaelites and their contributions towards Keats’s post-humous existence that it can be traced in Jane Campion’s 2009 biopic 'Bright Star.'