Essay on “A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever” Complete Essay for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

Or

Nothing that is Beautiful Ever Dies

Essay  No. 01

William Wordsworth, the greatest worshipper of nature, looked at the scene of daffodils.  He was spellbound.  He wrote:

                    “A poet could not but be gay

                    In such a jocund company.”

                He carried the beautiful scene with him.  It became a permanent source of joy for him.  That is why he wrote:

                “For oft when on my couch I lie

                In vacant or in pensive mood,

                They flash upon that inward eye

                Which is the bliss of solitude:

                And then my heart with pleasure fills

                And dances with the daffodils.”

                Referring to the enchanting, melodious song of the solitary reaper, the same poet wrote:

                “The music in my heart I bore

                Long after it was heard no more.”

          Nobody can deny that a thing of beauty is a joy for ver.  Keat’s famous poem “Endymion” beings with the immortal lines:

                “A thing of beauty is a joy forever;

                Its loveliness increases; it will never

                Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

                A bower quiet for us, and a sleep            

                Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.”

        These lines contain the essence of Keat’s poetic creed.  He believed that a thing of beauty is a source of eternal joy.  Beauty never declines.  It is a source of peace, sweet dreams, and inner satisfaction.

He echoed Spenser who said:

                “For all that is fair, is by nature good.”

                Keats perfected this creed and summed it up in his immortal lines:

                “Beauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all

                Ye know on earth and all ye need to know.”

        Later on, Rossetti wrote: Any Beauty which is not Truthful and any Truth which is not Beautiful(if there be any such) are of no use of humanity.” He believed that to the human mind Beauty and Truth and identical.  Matthew Arnold said that to see things in their beauty is to see things in their truth. Gandhiji also believed that all Truth is beautiful.

        Beauty is the source of the greatest joy in life.  It arouses the highest sensibilities in man.  An object of beauty removes the clouds of gloom from the human spirit.  While enumerating objects of beauty, Keats mentions the sun, the moon, trees, daffodils, tragedies of the great men of the past, and tales of love and glory.  Association with beauty increased our love for it.  Keats wrote, that with a great poet, the sense of beauty overcomes every other consideration.  He loved the principle of beauty in all things and sought them everywhere.  It is said that Keats was a Greek born in England.  The Greeks identified beauty with truth.  So did Keats.

                Other great romantic poets also sang of beauty. Byron often mentions the fascination of the dark eyes of a woman.  Coleridge sang of the spell of an Abyssinian maid on him.  To a true lover of beauty, the whole world is beautiful.  Beauty is to be found not merely in symmetry, proportion, and harmony but in all things.  This realization of the immanence of beauty sublimates man’s entire spiritual self.  With this realization comes the acceptance is revealed the relationship between the truthful and the beautiful.

                The Sanskrit saying, “Satyam, Shivam, Sunderam” contains the same truth.  Beauty is one with truth the goodness.  To the man of religion this the highest attribute of God.  In moments of revelation, God reveals Himself to His devotees in all objects. Then the man finds the relationship between truth and goodness which is inevitably the embodiment of beauty.  Then God too seems one with beauty and whatever has that beauty is good.

                Beauty is eternal like God; it is omnipresent like Him.  When a man is able to appreciate this truth, he finds good even in things evil.  This is the essence of the preaching of the Gita.

Essay  No. 02

A Thing of Beauty is A Joy For Ever

This line has been written by John Keats. It means beauty is a permanent source of joy. Beauty is something that everyone loves to watch and enjoy. God has created beautiful things in the world. We should love and admire them. No doubt beauty is short-lived. A lovely flower, a starry sky, and a beautiful face give us extra-ordinary joy. The paintings of great painters, the writings of great writers, and sweet melodies of great musicians send in us a wave of joy. Real happiness comes from that beauty which is ageless and timeless. A vulgar picture may give us joy but this joy is neither pure nor lasting. Only that thing can be called beautiful which delights us forever. A beautiful thing helps us to forget the sorrows and sufferings of life. It is rightly observed that beauty is truth, truth is beauty. We can know higher truths of life through objects of beauty. Beauty is God’s gift to man. It makes man’s life worth living in this dull and drab world.

Essay  No. 03

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy for Ever

Beauty is a combination of qualities that gives pleasure to one’s senses. It is an inborn instinct in human beings to appreciate beauty. The beauty of Nature has been a powerful attraction for men and women of all time.

A person may see a beautiful thing for a short time but its memory lasts for a long time. Man cherishes the beautiful moments in life. The imagination helps to revive and relive the happy moments spent in the company of beautiful flowers. A colorful butterfly seen for five minutes gives instant delight for the same time, but if that scene is remembered twenty times, the joy becomes twenty fold. Nature is found in beauty.

The sunrise, the sunset, the moon, the stars, the rainbow, and the seasons delight the senses. Beautiful sights and sounds of Nature provide pleasure to a man. The rivers, the forests, the green mountains, the snow-capped peaks, and the flowers are beautiful objects of Nature. They leave. a marked impression on the mind of a person. The recollection of this impression becomes a constant source of joy.

Beautiful objects inspire the poets to compose poetry. Poets are very much influenced by beautiful sights than people of ordinary imagination. Keats was a great lover of beauty in all its various forms. The dancing daffodils seen by Wordsworth during his travels left a mark in his memory. This is reflected in his poem on Daffodils. The great Sanskrit poet Kalidas has also explained in his poem Kumar Sambhav, the beauty of the forests blooming all around with the touch of spring.

Beautiful sceneries influence the painter to draw good painting. His paintings are the poetry of color which depicts Nature as it is on the canvas. A human face painted by a master painter will not only show the physical structure in its exact form but also reveal the emotions of the subject. The beautiful paintings of Hogarth, Nand Lal Bose. M.F. Hussain and others are a feast for the eyes and the mind.

What is true of poets and painters is equally true of sculptors, architects, and musicians. They drive immense pleasure through their creation of beauty. Their beautiful works are appreciated by everybody. A musician creates beauty by the harmonious blending of various notes and tunes. This harmony is a source of pleasure for the listeners.

Spiritual beauty is nobler than physical beauty. It is related to the beauty of the spirit and the soul. Spiritual beauty touches our soul. The pleasure and joy we derive from it are sublime. Spiritual beauty is accompanied by truth and goodness—Satyam Shivam Sundaram is a Sanskirt sage. We find a similar view in Keats’ poem when he says, ‘Beauty is truth, truth is beauty’.

Beauty, whether physical or spiritual always gives us joy. There. is harmony in the beautiful objects. This harmony is the attribute of the soul. Beauty links man with eternity. Thus it is rightly said.”A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”