This is a tough line in a difficult poem. John Keats' "To the Nile" is a compact sonnet addressing the Nile as if it were an entity, and it is a difficult poem to comprehend, as it uses lofty and archaic language to get its message across. Though its meaning is ambiguous, my best guess is that by saying "T'is ignorance that makes a barren waste/ Of all beyond itself" (10-11), Keats criticizes the ignorant...
This is a tough line in a difficult poem. John Keats' "To the Nile" is a compact sonnet addressing the Nile as if it were an entity, and it is a difficult poem to comprehend, as it uses lofty and archaic language to get its message across. Though its meaning is ambiguous, my best guess is that by saying "T'is ignorance that makes a barren waste/ Of all beyond itself" (10-11), Keats criticizes the ignorant viewpoints that the Nile is surrounded only by desert.
By saying ignorance makes a barren waste (or desert) out of all things beyond itself, Keats says that ignorant people assume that things beyond their understanding are barren wastes bereft of meaning. In contrast to such views, he advises us to view the desert terrain surrounding the Nile more charitably; he argues that the region gave birth to many human nations (5), and that it allows green and lush foliage to grow (12). By pointing these facts out, Keats reveals that the Nile is actually immensely fertile, and so we should respect it as an important, life-giving river, rather than writing it off as a trickle in the desert.
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