Ode To Nightingale Analysis of Poem

Ode To Nightingale
- John Keats
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
' Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,—
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs,
Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
Away! away! for I will f ly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
I cannot see what f lowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;
And mid-May's eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of f lies on summer eves.
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!

No hungry generations trod thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times hath
Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell

To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?
What to know about this Poem:
Date of Composition: May 1819
Published: 1820
Form and Structure:
• Form: Ode (a formal, often elevated lyric poem)
• Structure: Consists of eight stanzas, each containing ten lines. The poem follows a regular
structure.
Meter:
• The poem primarily follows iambic pentameter, with lines containing ten syllables, alternately
stressed and unstressed.
Rhyme:
• The rhyme scheme in “Ode to a Nightingale” is ABABCDECDE.
Theme: Central themes include-
• Transience and mortality
• The contrast between art and reality
• The power of imagination and poetry
• The allure and limitations of escape
Tone and Mood:
• Tone: Contemplative, ref lective, and melancholic
• Mood: Evokes a sense of longing, both for the immortality of the nightingale’s song and
for a deeper, transcendent experience.
Imagery:
• Keats employs vivid and sensory imagery throughout the poem. Examples include:
• “My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk”
• “Tasting of Flora and the country green”
• “Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget”
Poetic Devices:
• Enjambment (the continuation of a sentence or phrase beyond the end of a line)
• Alliteration (repetition of consonant sounds, e.g., “Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves”)
• Simile (comparing two unlike things using “like” or “as,” e.g., “As though of hemlock I had
drunk”)
Language and Diction:

• Keats uses elevated and rich language, as befitting an ode. He employs archaic terms
(“Fays,” “hippocrene”) and vivid descriptive language to create a sensory experience for the reader.
Narrative Voice:
• The poem is written in the first person, with the speaker expressing his thoughts and emotions
directly.
Setting:
• The setting is not explicitly stated. The poem exists in a sort of liminal space, with the speaker
caught between the physical world and the imaginative realm of the nightingale’s song.
Allusion and Reference:

• The poem makes reference to Ruth, an Old Testament figure, and mentions “Provençal
song” and “Hippocrene,” which are elements from Greek mythology.
Structure of Lines and Stanza Breaks:

• The poem is composed of eight stanzas, each containing ten lines. The stanzas are
characterized by regular line lengths, with occasional enjambment.
14. Repetition and Patterns:
• The refrain “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains” is repeated in the first
lines of the second and third stanzas, creating a rhythmic pattern and emphasizing the
speaker’s emotional state.
15. Title’s Connection to Content:
• The title “Ode to a Nightingale” directly indicates that the poem is dedicated to a
nightingale. The nightingale serves as a central metaphor and subject of contemplation in the
poem.
16. Historical and Cultural Context:
• The poem was written in the early 19th century during the Romantic period, a time
characterized by a focus on emotion, imagination, and nature. Keats himself was a prominent
figure in the Romantic movement. The poem ref lects Keats’ personal struggles, including his
awareness of his own mortality due to illness. It also engages with larger philosophical and
artistic ideas of the time.

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Ode To Nightingale Analysis of Poem

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Ode To Nightingale

Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell

Language and Diction:

Allusion and Reference:

Structure of Lines and Stanza Breaks:

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