Ode to a Nightengale

A detailed Summary of Ode to a Nightengale

In "Ode to a Nightingale", Keats is reflecting on a beautiful and imaginative moment of nature. He is wishing to savor this moment, but due to the various cycles of nature, this moment cannot last for long, there is constant change. Nature itself can go on forever, it is continuous, but on the other hand, for mankind, no one moment is immortal. Keats is aware of this and he wants to become part of it. The beginning of the bird's song marks the beginning of the moment Keats longs to savor. To truly appreciate this moment, and escape his own world, he feels as though he must experience this as intensly as possible - in a drugged and almost numbed state. Keates creates images to allude to the beautiful and inspirational intensity that this nature has brought. The "Provencal" song (line 14) and the "blushful Hippocrene" (line 16) are examples which represent this love and inspiration. These images are so strong that he desires to drink it and fade away into it, so that he could become one with nature. Consequently, in line 22, "what thou among the leaves hast never known", Keats realizes that for mankind all that is beautiful must come to an end. He will not achieve success if he alludes to imbibing himself with alcohol. Th

is is where the sorrow of mankind rests; due to our temporality we can only take beauty and its moments just for a mere moment. On the other hand, nature can experience and produce it over and over again. The Nightingale and its tune are able to represent this idea that nature is immortal - it is timeless. The beauty that the song produces, to us may just be a brief moment, but in nature it is not this. Due to the cyclic nature of nature, it can experience this moment forever. In stanza VI, Keats is aware of this and longs to become part of this and the only way he now sees he is cacable of doing this is through death. He begins to accept the idea of death as the possibilities that it will bestows a peacefulness in human life. From this poem, it seems as though Keats believes there is a possibility for peacefulness. With the passage of death, he can be brought into this "ecstasy". It can be said that death is a pathway through which we are able to become one with nature. In line 60, Keats makes a reference that "to thy high requiem become a sod". I see this that our physical body is becoming a part of the earth, as our soul is able to unite itself with nature.

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" depicts a timeless theme that is relevant to any society. Through the use careful diction, Keats portrays the the

Some common words found in the essay are:
Grecian Urn, Nightingale Keats, VI Keats, Cold Pastoral, keats aware, nature experience, moment nature, eternal innocence, beauty truth, human life,

Approximate Word count = 888
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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