Background Information
Ode to a Nightingale is one of the most quoted poems in English Literature. The ode was written in 1819. Charles Brown, a friend of Keats suggests that he constructed the particular poem in the morning only, inspired by the song of a nightingale while sitting under a plum tree. The famous ode is Keats" attempt in fleeing from the "fear and fret" of life,
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
The ode is Keats' largest poem and his penetration or transition into the nightingale through Negative Capability.
Summary
The poem opens when the addressor is profoundly enchanted by the song of the nightingale as if it were a strong intoxicating wine. The speaker desires to acquire the finest wine buried deep in Earth and to flee into the forest of the nightingale. The poet declares an escape from the worries of life.
The poet flies to the calm and fragrant realm of the nightingale through his "wings of poesy" where no moonlight can pierce through the darkness of the night. The addresser identifies flowers not through his slight but through smell. The speaker considers the nightingale immortal because its unchanged song is heard by people from generation to generation. Then, the nightingale leaves the poet in the middle of his imagination and he is left confused in between the state of dream and reality.
Themes
Ode to a Nightingale is rich in the themes of anxiety of time, immortality and death. It must be noted that Keats himself was suffering from the problem of the deaths of his loved ones. His own life was uncertain as he himself was mortally ill. Therefore, the theme of death is prominent in his poetry.
In this poem, the speaker is unaware of his actual state whether he is alive or dead. One thing he is sure about is his state of drowsiness that lasts from the beginning to the end of this poem. The speaker seems anxious of his temporariness in the grand scheme of time. He is marvelled at the "immortality" of the nightingale through her song. One thing to note here is that Keats suggests that it is the song of the Nightingale that keeps it immortal, not the physical body of the nightingale. Similarly, it is the poetry of the poet which keeps him alive even after his death.
The second theme prominent in the poem is the poet's escape through the bitterness of life through the tool of intoxication. But how does the poet acquires his state of numbness? Obviously through the song of the nightingale. The poet enters into the peaceful realm of the nightingale through his poetry and relishes the melodious sound and fragrant smell to forget his plight temporarily.
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his parts,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
But the state of intoxication is temporal, as the world, and the poet is forced to return into the actual world of melancholy.
The third theme hidden in this poem is the poet's love for the pure beauty of Nature. The particular version of the beauty is represented through the enchanting song of the nightingale that is simple, pure and 'immortal'.
Literary Devices
Since this Ode is a long poem, it boasts a variety of literary devices to add number of meanings to it. Keats has used similes, metaphors and personification in his poem to structuralize his imaginative world. Simile occurs when the poet describes forlorn as a ringing bell,
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell.
Keats also implies a metaphor to praise the lovely effect of wine like the fine and the warm weather in the South,
for a beaker full of the warm south
Keats personifies beauty to a human being who can see,
where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes
The poem also carries apostrophes when the poet addresses the nightingale and affirms its immortality.
Setting and Images
The poem basically originates within the imaginative mind of the poet. So, the original setting of this poem is the poet's mind. But his imagination leads us and him to a dark but fragrant jungle. Thus, the prominent setting within the poem is the dark and melodious woods where the nightingale is singing.
Keats' sensuous imagery sets him apart from the rest of the Romantics. His images are as vivid as if the nightingale has flown from her peaceful world to ours - singing her sweet song. Here are some of the images used in this ode to make it more life-like, "Past the near meadows", "though of hemlock I had drunk," "Past the near meadows,” "Tasting of Flora and the country green", and "viewless wings".
Structural Analysis
As mentioned before, this ode is one of the longest odes written by Keats. The poem is made of 80 verses - divided into 8 stanzas and each stanza carries 10 lines. The rhyme scheme of this poem is ABABCDECDE. While the rhythm of this poem is iambic pentameter. The ode holds enjambments (continuation of a sentence on two or more lines) as well, as is obvious in this example:
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains.
Conclusion
Ode to a Nightingale is Keat's own Romantic escape from the hustle and bustle of the daily routine. The poem beautifully conveys Keat's views on death, immortality and beauty through the guise of the melodious song of the nightingale.
Sources and Suggested Readings
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_to_a_Nightingale
- https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/john-keats/ode-to-a-nightingale
- https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/poetry/ode-nightingale/summary
- https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/poetry/ode-nightingale/analysis/setting
- https://literarydevices.net/ode-to-a-nightingale/
- Lectures of Sir Saffi
- Critical Evaluation of Selected Poems by John Keats - Famous Products - Page 124
