Although he lived at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, Keats was little affected by these conflicts. Similarly, his poetry, which concerns itself mainly with classical, pastoral, and natural subjects, shows little evidence of the industrial revolution. Do you find his poems retreat from contemporary issues or find in art a higher reality, a more lasting truth? If it is the Urn that says "Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty," where do you think Keats stands in regard to that statement?


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