I am Keats:

Kazi Nazrul Islam and the Romantic Poet

Abstract

In a letter to Qazi Motahar Hossain, Kazi Nazrul Islam described how close he felt to Keats. He even feared that his sore throat was a sign of tuberculosis and he would succumb to it as Keats did. He was also in love, like Keats, with a woman who did not reciprocate his love. However, it was not only in his personal letters that Nazrul talked about Keats but also in his essays. It is possible that the inspiration for “Amar Sundar” (My Beauty) came from Keats’ oft-quoted line. This paper will examine selected letters and essays by Nazrul to show how he appropriated the youngest English Romantic in his writings.