ABSTRACT
Scholars of British Romanticism have frequently emphasized the importance of commodity culture in Keats's poetry. The author examines Keats in the context of the commercial culture that fascinated him but does not assume, as Mizukoshi does, that this fascination ends with simple acceptance. Rather, the author joins those critics who see a more critical edge in Keats's work, particularly in his representations of luxury and commodity culture. Yet, he would go further than critics who see Keats's poetry as a camp undermining of commodity culture and argues that Keats offers an alternative to capitalist forms of desire and enjoyment. As the author argues, Keats's immersion in commodity culture leads to an important critique of the kind of desire that operates in a consumer culture. Keats's 1820 romance, The Eve of St. Agnes, offers a provocative alternative to how things operate in commodity capitalism. Proposing a romance, the poem undermines the kind of enjoyment associated with consumption.
