Ode to a Nightingale
The poem fuses "real melancholy" with "imaginary relief" to adequately express the double life of human experience. The poem's movement through the different modes is achieved through a loose stylistic perfection; a dream-like experience of intoxication done with intense canto regularity. Ode to a Nightingale not only waxes and wanes between these realms, it vibrates deeply with a true look at what Keats in his life has endured, and foreshadows the death to come. Within the beauty there is still the ever-present, unrelenting mortality of man to ground us: "Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;/Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last grey hairs, /where youth grows pale, and spectra-thin, and dies" (Keats, ln. 24-6). Although, he is not too forlorn to take flight in the ecstasy of his own creative imagination and poetry. He allows the bird song to carry him off: "Away! Away! For I will fly to thee" (Keats, ln. 31). He escapes "the dull brain" (Keats, ln. 34) and forgets himself long enough to see "the Queen Moon is on her throne,/Clustered around by all her starry fays" (Keats, ln. 37-8). Stanzas 4 and 5 suppress the pain, which he returns to for the last three. However, we do not feel betrayed in either direction or pulled too
far to one side or the other, and in the conclusion are left to wonder which realm is reality: "Was it a vision, or a waking dream? /Fled is that music - do I wake or sleep?" (Keats, ln. 79-80). As one reads this poem of John Keats, the overwhelming feeling is the envy the poet feels toward the nightingale and his song. He compared the carefree life of the bird to the pain, suffering and mortality of men. He continually referred to Greek gods and mythology when speaking of the nightingale as somehow the Bird possessed magical powers. The speaker opened with the explanation my heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains my sense as he listened to the song of the nightingale. He compared his feelings to those of a person that had drunk hemlock or an opiate so that their senses had become dull, or as if drinking from Lethe-wards, a river of the lower world, which produced forgetfulness of past life. Keats compared the bird to that of a Dryad, or a female spirit, which was assigned a certain tree to watch over and whose life was so closely connected to the tree that if it were to die so would the Dryad. Or perhaps in some mysterious way the nightingale's song were some melodious plot to enchant his listener. He explained the reason for his envy as being happy in thy happiness or because the bird sang so beautifully with full throated ease. Keats longs for the effects of liquor draught of vintage with the taste of the country flora and country green which when consumed brings dance, song and mirth. He compares the song of the bird with the song of his poetry when he wishes to be full of the true...Hippocrene which was a mythical fountain on Mount Helicon that inspired poetically. He reflected on the belief that unlike his poetry, the nightingale's song would be remembered for eternity, because the Bird's tune would go unchanged, while his words would fade wi
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1257
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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