Plebeian Gusto, Negative Capability, And the Low Company of "Mr. Kean": Keats' Dramatic Review for the Champion (21 December 817)‪.‬

Keats' review of Edmund Kean for the Champion (21 December 1817) can be seen as itself a dramatic performance in which Keats, in an energetic prose attuned to the expressive spontaneity of his subject, portrays "Edmund Kean," or more accurately, portrays himself as Kean. Presenting the actor as a figure of Chivalry and Romance, deeply attuned to Shakespearean values, Keats projects Kean as a surrogate figure of his own political and aesthetic agenda. "Chivalry," "Romance," and "Shakespeare" are all key terms in the Cockney reformist lexicon, and are prominent, as well, in Keats' recently published Poems (1817). Presenting Kean in these terms, Keats participates in a contemporary public debate (promoted by Hunt and Hazlitt) in which Kean is figured as populist and plebeian, countering the neoclassical (and Tory) associations of the actor John Kemble. A dual contextual frame emerges, further interfusing aesthetics and politics, when considering that Keats' "Negative Capability" letter was composed days after the review. Keats' Kean not only emerges as an energized embodiment of reformist values, but also, in his ability to immerse himself in his roles, provides a fresh insight into the gestation of Keats' concept of negative-capability. The review spotlights the contemporary interfusion of poets and politics, as well as Keats' willingness and ability to perform in this play of public associations. **********