Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats...Summary and analysis
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| Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats |
Summary
The popular poem"Ode to a Nightingale" was composed by John Keats. It was written when Keats was at Wentworth palace, Hempstead with his friend Charles Brown. He got inspiration to compose this poem from a bird nightingale which had built its nest near the house of the poet. One day Keats went to the garden and sit there for some time. There he heard the melodious song of a nightingale. He felt an extreme joy to hear her sing. Then he composed the poem sitting under a plum tree hearing the song of the nightingale. Thus the poet expresses the feelings of joy while hearing the song of the nightingale.
This poem was first published in "Annals of the Fine Arts". It is a poem of 80 lines. It has eight stanzas. The poem is rich in sensuous imagination. The diction of the poem is sublime and sweet. The poet is famous for his picturesqueness. He is an expert in composing poetical pictorial poetry. He is also famous for his use of Hellenism in his poetry. The poem is an excellent example of romantic poetry.
The poem"Ode to a Nightingale" describes the beauty of the song of the nightingale. Nightingale's song represents a world of perfect beauty and extreme joy. According to Keats, the world of the nightingale is an ideal and perfect world. He wants to reach there with the help of wine. After it, he wants to reach there through his poetic imagination as he is a poet. He wishes to drink the water of the river of forgetfulness to reach in the world of Nightingale after forgetting his actual or real world. He is very happy to see the happiness of the nightingale.
Ode to a Nightingale...analysis stanza wise
Stanza--1
In the first stanza, the poet hears the song of the nightingale. After hearing the song, he feels the pain in his heart not because of any sorrow but it is by the excess of joy. The poet is not jealous of the happiness of the nightingale. He also wants to reach in the world of the nightingale with the help of wine or opium drug or the water of the river of forgetfulness where the bird is singing with full throat.
Stanza--2
In the second stanza, the poet wants to drink wine that has been kept for a long time under the earth. The poet believes that wine will inspire the poet in the same way as the water of Hippocrene inspired the people who drank it. After it, the poet compares the wine cup with the blushes of the girl.
Stanza--3
In the third stanza, the poet again wants to go away from his real world of pain and misery. He wants to forget the real world and its pain and wants to live in a world of imagination.
Stanza--4
Here, the poet wants to reach in the world of the nightingale. But now he leaves the thought of drinking wine. Instead of it, he wants to fly with wings of poetry. The world of nightingale seems to the poet very beautiful. The moon is looking beautiful surrounded by the shining stars.
Stanza--5
Here, the poet says that he can not see flowers properly due to darkness but he can smell the sweet fragrance of the flowers of the May. He can also recognize flowers by its smell. The poet also recognizes musk rose by its smell. Musk rose is the favorite flower for the honey bees.
Stanza--6
Here, the poet thinks about death while hearing the song of the nightingale in the darkness. He says that he hates the world of pain. He wants to die but his death will not be painful for him because the nightingale sings a melodious song for him. It will be a mourning song on his death. The poet wants to die hearing the sweet song of the nightingale.
Stanza--7
According to the poet, the nightingale is an immortal bird. She was not born to die. The selfish and greedy people can not destroy her generation. The poet further says that the kings and farmers also heard the sweet song of the nightingale. He thinks that Ruth also must have heard this song when he felt alone in the cornfield of a foreign country. He believes that the song also must have its effect upon the windows of a castle in the isolate seashore.
Stanza--8
In the last stanza, the poet comes back to the real world from his world of imagination. He feels himself alone in the world again. Keats bids farewell to the nightingale's song and comes back to face the realities of life. The nightingale flies away from the sight of the poet. Thus the voice of the bird becomes inaudible for the poet. The last stanza of the poem is full of sadness because the poet's illusion has broken and he has to come back to his real consciousness and the real world. Thus we can not live forever in the world of imagination. We have to come back to our real world.
