Keats seemed to fully understand the pathway to spiritual growth and appreciation of beauty includes a detour through highly uncomfortable experience. Keats had a tough go of things, to say the least: Just as he was gaining fame, potential fortune, and love, he realized he had a fatal illness and he died.
Keats knew his health was poor and getting worse; about this time of morbid self-realization he launched into an incredible period of productivity - producing a landslide of brilliant works in under a year's time. Part of Keats's incredible works includes a series of odes, including Ode on Melancholy.
In this poem Keats puts forth:
| Ay, in the very temple of Delight |
| Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine, |
Melancholy - a mixture of sadness and depression - is found inside the temple of delight. How seemingly ironic; yet Keats recognized the two ideas are intrinsically connected. One cannot experience delight, without also experiencing a deep sadness.
