"A most dizzy pain" : John Keats e la costruzione del poetic self romantico, tra classicità moderna ed ellenismo

This article argues that the work of the Romantic poet John Keats relies on a constant dialogue with literary tradition. By exploring Keats's poems as well as letters, it first suggests that Keats developed a fluid notion of classicism, which encompasses Ancient Greek and Renaissance literature. Subsequently, it argues that Keats's complex response to Greek culture and poetry - which is indeed part of the well-known Romantic 'Greekomania' - is functional to the development of his own poetic self, whereby he attempt to reconcile both (Neo)classical and Romantic elements.