“As to the poetical Character itself, ( I mean that sort of which, if I am anything, I am a Member; that sort distinguished from the wordsworthian or egotistical sublime; which is a thing per se and stands alone) it is not itself―it has no self―it is every thing and nothing―It has no character―it enjoys licht and shade; it lives in gusto, be it foul or fair, high or low, rich or poor, mean or elevated―It has as much delight in conceiving an Iago as an Imogen. What shocks the virtuous philosoper, delights the camelion Poet. It dose no harm from its relish of the dark side of things any more than from its taste for the bright one; because they both end in speculation. A Poet is the most umpoetical of any thing in existence; because he has no Identity―he is continually in for―and filling some other Body―The Sun, the Moon, the Sea and Men and Women who are creatures of impulse are poetical and have about them an unchangeable attribute―the poet has none; no identity―he is certainly the most unpoetical of all God’s Creatures.” Keats’ letter to Richard Woodhouse, 27 October 1818 (John Keats: The Major Works. Oxford University Press. 1990. p.418f.)
No heart was there in Florence but did mourn
In pity of her loves, so overcast.
And a sad ditty of this story born
From mouth to mouth through all the country pass’d:
Still is the burthen sung―‘O cruelty
To steal my Basil-pot away from me!’
Ah! wherefore all this wormy circumstance?
Why linger at the yawning tomb so long?
O for the gentleness of old Romance,
The simple plaining of a minstrel's song!
Fair reader, at the old tale a glance,
For here, in truth, it doth not well belong
To speak:―O turn thee to the very tale,
And taste the music of that vision pale.
バートルビー症候群の文学者を色々と列挙している小説ですが、その一人にキーツも出てきます。バートルビー症候群とは、メルヴィルの短編『バートルビー』、その主人公のバートルビーのように、活動行為(文学者であれば執筆行為)に対してNOと言うようになる症状(?)のことです。I would prefer not to do …と。
たしかに、キーツはこの手紙のある箇所で、
If then he[poet] has no self, and if I am a Poet, where is the Wonder that I should say I would no more ?
「もし、詩人が自己をもたないものであって、また、私が詩人であるならば、これ以上詩を書かないと私が言ったとしても、どこに変なところがあるでしょうか」
と書いていますが、この発言がすんなりとバートルビー的なことになるとは思えません。この発言をとらえて言うならば、そもそも、書かなくなるキーツ、という可能性よりも、それでもなぜ書いたのか、という事情のほうにこそ興味が向うはずです。