Lexically, escapism means a tendency to run away or to flee from. Escapism, in literature, means an afford to escape from the hard realities of life. Especially, the romantics tormented by the stings of practical life, wanted to leave this world of misery, sorrow, suffering, and to resume a country of mind, that is, into an imaginary world of the poet’s own creation. An escapist keeps aloof from real life and its problems. He cowardly shrinks from the spectacle of human suffering and escapes from it into an imaginary world of beauty and pleasure, of all the romantics, Keats is regarded as the worst sinner in respect of escapism.
In Keats’ poetry, there are many touches of escapism. In his famous poem, Ode to a Nightingale, we see that he has wanted to escape from the world in various ways like by taking drug and poison, by drinking wine, and even through death.
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