Perhaps the truest definition of love is the one that Romeo and Juliet died for; or maybe it's the kind that triggered a decade-long war between the city of Troy and the Greeks. Regardless, today's image of love, marred by capitalistic machinations and mundane practicalities, seems pale in comparison to those grand and majestic representations of sacrifice, gore, and glory. It is exactly this that John Keats addresses in his 1848 poem Modern Love, a scathing critique of then-modern romance that still rings true nearly 150 years later. Throughout the poem, Keats uses rhetorical questioning, historical allusions, and repetition to criticize his readers, not just for believing in love but also for upholding it as an ideal to reach, when in practice, society is much too materialistic to find the true, pure form of it that the legends in myth experienced. Yet, despite his strong, cynical stance, Keats fails to acknowledge that "modern love", for all its dispassion, is often safer and less volatile, particularly for the historically marginalized like women and people of color.
To begin, Keats uses a rhetorical question to interrogate his readers' childish notions of romance and passion. He opens the poem with an age-old adage that begets a romantic answer: "And what is love?" (Keats 1). Yet, where one would expect a comparison to a rose or sunrise, Keats subverts this trope and instead delivers a jaded, blunt response: "a doll dress'd up / for idleness to cosset, nurse, and dandle" (Keats 1-2). By comparing love to a made-up doll, one that bored children play with in an overindulgent and unnecessary way, Keats characterizes love as immature. This rhetorical choice gives Keats a powerful sense of authority throughout the poem, as the reader begins to feel like a child being scolded by a much older, much wiser adult. This association between love and juvenility is continued later in the poem, where Keats mocks the "silly youth" (Keats 4) for believing that such love can make them "divine" (Keats 5). This, too, serves to characterize love as frivolous, a fantasy that 'real adults' don't engage with. Additionally, by comparing love to a play-toy, Keats subliminally signals that love is a possession -- and more, one that the aforementioned "silly youth" (Keats 4) use to make themselves appear more virtuous. In this way, Keats suggests that in the modern age, love is not an emotion or experience, but an asset to be used to signal status and earn social currency. Keats presents this pessimistic view in an antagonistic way, chastising his audience for pretending to desire 'true love' when in reality, the love we truly seek is gilded: beautiful to look at, perhaps, but hollow beyond the surface.
In the latter half of the poem, Keats places historical figures in jarring modern contexts, using this juxtaposition to further underscore how the purest forms of love have deteriorated into materialistic desire. He writes that love is "doting" (Keats 6) until "Miss's comb is made a pearl tiara / and common Wellingtons turn into Romeo boots" (Keats 7-8). As simple household tools have been replaced with their bejeweled (and decidedly less useful) counterparts, our obsession for material goods have overtaken our ability to experience and emit real love. In this new world, Keats argues, Cleopatra "lives at Number Seven" (Keats 9) and Mark Anthony, her husband "resides in Brunswick Square" (Keats 10). It seems ludicrous to hear of Cleopatra and Anthony doing such domestic things, like living in neighborhoods and spending time apart, and this only emphasizes how the mystique and romance of ancient 'Great Love Stories' is lost when translated into the present day. That is, with so much infrastructure and capitalism surrounding us, we view love as just another object to have and hold, and are unable to evaluate its purpose objectively. Much like the modern day world would value a diamond encrusted tiara more than a simple comb, Keats argues that modern citizens would value a glittery, meaningless allure over long lasting, powerful love.
This allusion to Ancient Egypt reappears again in the poem to reiterate the idea that love has decayed over time. On line 15, Keats promises to believe in love again, if only one could make "that weighty pearl / the Queen of Egypt melted" whole. To make a melted object whole again would require turning back the clock -- and this, he argues, is the only thing that could restore his faith in modern love. With this, Keats takes on a tone of despair, suggesting that it is 'too late' to preserve the worthiest and truest forms of love in a modern capitalist society. Furthermore, this allusion to a melted pearl has more specific ancient roots. In myth, Cleopatra and Anthony engaged in a competition to determine who could throw the most lavish party. Anthony spent millions, wasting food and jewels in an attempt to win this lover's bet, but Cleopatra took another approach: she held a rather austere party, but took her priceless pearl earrings and melted them into the drinks served. By mentioning this story, Keats underscores how its theme -- giving up invaluable possessions for love -- could never be understood today. In fact, there almost is no such thing as invaluable in a capitalist context; instead, we have fake love and "beaver hats" (Keats 17). Beaver hats were fashionable throughout much of Europe during Keats's lifetime, and were in such high demand that beavers themselves verged on extinction. Keats uses this reference to condemn abundance, which has made everything seemingly disposable, even at the expense of an entire species. He proposes that this culture of fashion -- discarding that which we own in favor of newer, shinier versions for the sole purpose of remaining in line with the status quo -- has shifted onto our culture of love, thus rendering true romance impossible.
Ultimately, Keats becomes openly hostile in the poem's final lines, mocking his readers and repeatedly calling them "Fools!" (Keats 11, 15) for maintaining the illusion of love where only vapid greed exists. His tirade culminates with resentment that love, in the way it once did, no longer exists. While those in the stories have lost their minds, waged wars, and sacrificed kingdoms for love, today, only shiny objects and ephemeral happiness exist. With dramatic punctuation, this is the most aggressive and impassioned part of his poem -- Keats makes the word "fools" visually stand out on the page, unequivocally insulting his audience for their materialistic transgressions. This repetition leaves a powerful, unforgettable impression -- we, as readers, are meant to remember Keats's anger and disappointment in us.
Thus, through rhetorical questioning, historical allusions, and repetition, Keats scorns the modern-day conception of love as shallow, consumerist, and ultimately, a hoax. Yet, this interpretation is a marked oversimplification of true history: rather than detract from all that is good, capitalism empowered historically marginalized groups towards independence and financial stability. The supposed disposability of modern romances is, in truth, simply a minor consequence of the fact that today, far more people have the choice and freedom to leave harmful or dysfunctional relationships. The "modern love" Keats detests may not be mercurial and all-consuming, may not topple dynasties the way Cleopatra's did, may not require constant or life-defining sacrifice; but, it is one where both partners can strive towards genuine equality and partnership, and hope to find a companionship that complements, rather than overtakes, the rest of their identity. It's simply different, not worse, and certainly no less important.
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