Essays

This famous line is the opening line of the famous work of John Keats, an English poet. The poet himself was a lover of beauty all through his short life. This line embodies a very natural truth about life. Anything beautiful always remains a source of everlasting joy and happiness whether it is d beautiful sunset, a lovely flower, a lush green valley, a sweet face of a child, a snow-peaked mountain, a breathtaking scenery or d monument, a great painting or sculpture, a song, a symphony/ a poem or a dance. Whatever it may be, anything with a slight touch of beauty thrills the heart with unspeakable joy to the core.

The beauty that the poet had in mind is not the beauty which can be seen only and is bound by the physical realm of the world. Beauty of thought, feeling and expression is more transcendental, inexplicable and of purer quality. Such beauty is found in great works of art, literature, and others like these, The paintings of Raphael or Vinci, the music of Beethoven or Chopin, the poetry of Homer. Virgil or Milton and Tagore, the works of Shakespeare or Kalidas or the sculptures by Leonardo da Vinci or that of Ajanta and Ellora cast a mesmerizing spell upon a person's mind. The beauty underlying these great works is the sole reason behind their perpetual and permanent appeal. It is the beauty and appeal of such work that enriches our culture and makes it enduring through ages.

It is this beauty around us and within us that keeps us going on in life. It is this beauty that charms us, hypnotizes us and makes us fall in love with life.

Even when life seems dull and full of tears and sorrows only, a look at the sun-rising with the birds chirping and hopping all over can lift our sinking spirits. Even when the night seems too dark, a glance at the crescent or full moon gradually making its way through the starry sky will make us hopeful for another dawn.

The beauty of little things that captures our senses gives us great joy. A gift from a loved one—no matter how small or insignificant it may be—is full of beauty for the recipient. A small task completed by a person with hard labour and work is full of beauty for that person. A child's first spoken words or his first step are of incomparable beauty for the mother or the father. A beginner's first painting—no matter how faulty—is full of beauty for the beginner as well as his teacher.

The beauty here lies in the feelings hidden behind a task completed and not the task itself. The sincere efforts made in order to accomplish and achieve something comprise of the beauty which of course becomes a joy forever. In fact, a few years later in his life Keats equaled beauty with Truth and had come to the conclusion ~ "Beauty is Truth, Truth is Beauty, that is all we know on earth, and all we need to know". The beauty of everything - thought, feeling, action, deeds, words, efforts etc is the real truth behind it- It is this truth that every man thirsts for in his life and wants to achieve.

If we learn to see the beauty hidden behind everything in our lives and around us, we will gradually reach the highest realms of truth. There is beauty even behind a sigh, a tear or a sorrow. There is beauty not only in the rose but also in the thorny bush that breeds it. There is beauty in the beautiful countryside as well as in the otherwise sordid city life. We only have to look deeper and feel with pure heart- Then only can we feel the beauty around and let it be a source of perpetual joy forever.