Ode to a nightingale is a very receptive poem, written by John Keats.

Ode to a nightingale is a very receptive poem, written by John Keats.

👉Name of the poem suggests that it is addressed to nightingale but it is not true.

👉The poet, in this poem, has compared a lot of things, which are related to life, art, literature and nature.

👉The poet does not directly addresses to nightingale nor he praises its beauty but rather he has praised its beautiful voice.

👉The poem is not entirely opposite to the title but it also is not only about nightingale; the poem reveals the experience of poet, his problems, his thinking and his poetic imagination.

👉Two main issues are discussed in the poem, which the readers must focus on.

🔎 (1) The connection and difference between the pleasure and pain.
🔎 (2) The connection between the life and death.

👉Some other things, which can be found in this poem are; the comparison between
🔎 Mortality and immortality
🔎 Sufferings and happiness
🔎 Art and life
🔎 Nature and human beings etc.

👉Thoughts of the poet changes in every stanza.

👉He moves from real world to the imaginative world.

👉The world he visits in his imagination is the world of nightingale.

👉A world which is free from all types of stress, worries, pain and problems.

👉He goes in trees, where he finds peace and harmony but realizes that he is lonely, hopeless and sad in that fancy imaginative world also.

👉After living in a fancy world of a nightingale for a while, he returns from his conceptual world beck to the real world  and he comes to know that escape from hard realities of life is possible only with death.

👉 He realises that he can't avoid the bitter real life by going into an imaginative world.

👉 He comes to know that imagination can not heal his wounds, the only way he can find peace through is "Death".

👉The poem starts with a sense of dullness; the poet is falling asleep after hearing the song of nightingale.

👉Sleep has overpowered him and he is going to start his journey in his dreams.

👉These lines proves that the romantic poets remain in their own conceptual world.

👉The poetry of romantic poets is the poetry of dreams and imagination.

👉Like other poets, John Keats also talks about dreams and fancy; he creates his own planet through poetry, a planet which is free from pains of life.

👉In next lines, we find the poet in the world of nightingale; he is hearing its sweet song.

👉In fact, he is enjoying listening to the sweet songs of a nightingale.

👉Imagination has been started and the poet is in a dream, in which he has no limit.

👉The poet does not go beyond the physics like #S_T_Coleridge but like a pure poet, he expresses his desires.

👉John Keats has been very much fascinated by nature and the objects related to nature.

👉Nightingale, in this poem, has been targeted.

👉He has praised the voice of nightingale.

👉The poet starts his dream and finds himself among the trees, where nightingale is present and its song has been heard uninterruptedly.

👉Imagery of the poet in this poem is extraordinary.

👉Description of trees, their shadows, sun etc. is also wonderful.

👉He has sketched everything so beautifully that While reading the poem the reader finds himself in place of the poet, the reader feels that if all these objects are in front of him.

👉Indeed, starting lines of the poem compels the readers to keep studying the poem.

👉 As mentioned above, the fancy world has been created and the poet is present therein.

👉While being there in the world of fancy the poet has forgotten the worries of life to some extent.

👉He expresses his desires one by one.

👉Firstly, he wants high quality red wine.

👉He wants red wine because this way he'd forget the worries of life completely.

👉When the poet remembers his difficulties, he wants to forget them but his sensitiveness and consciousness is not letting him forget the bitter life, his sensitivity is a big problem to him.

👉If he wasn't that much sensitive he'd easily forget the worries of real life he faces.

👉He wants to take help of red wine, which will help him to forget his love and remind him of flowers; those flowers, which are source of wine.

👉Preferably, he wants wine from Provence, because the wine of Provence is famous for fun and happiness.
(Provence was a province of southeastern France, which is now part of the Alps)

👉Or he want the wine, which directly flows from the mountain of muses.
(Muses are nine goddesses in greek mythology, each of them is know as the goddess of art and science)

👉The poet has become bored because of his routine life. Misfortunes of life have disturbed him.
(Keats had faced love failure, he had Tuberculosis, he came from a poor background and he had many other hardships, this poem reflects his tough and sad life)

👉He describes life in short term as sickness and worry.

👉He indirectly says in the poem that life is the combination of “fever and frets” he thinks that life is very painful.

👉The topic he has chosen for this poem is very common for every poet and writer, every artist is interested in this topic, but the way Keats presented the reality of life in this poem indicates his mastery in poetry.

👉Many artists have tried to explain life but unable to do so.

👉John Keats, like them, says that the life is full of disasters.

👉It seems that previous stanza is dependent on this one.

👉Here we can understand the reason behind red wine’s requirement.

👉Actually, the poet does not want the consciousness of mind.

👉 The a person is sensitive and conscious, the more he'd feel panic.

👉He prefers to be unconscious of the real life, because it gives satisfaction to him.

👉A conscious mind can be effected by remembering disappointments and misfortunes of life, therefore, unconsciousness can help the poet to forget these disappointments for the time being.

👉The poet does not talk only about his own anxieties; he also talks about the people of world and their worries.

👉The poet has spoken the truth.

👉It cannot be denied that men grows pale and die.

👉Death is certain and everyone has to accept this fact.

👉Death is a bitter truth.

👉Even the lovers’ passion of love cannot save them from death.

👉For lovers, life is short and death can end their passion forever.

👉Thought of death saddens the mind of poet.

👉The poet changes his mind and the wine is no more required now.

👉 Because the wine can not give him permanent escape from hardships, the only way to get rid of the worries of life is to die.

👉He will take help from his mind in order to forget the worries of life.

👉The “flawless wings of poesy” will help him to go in the fancy world.

👉Perhaps, he has realized that the wine is a temporary solution; although imagination is also not an everlasting solution yet it is better than the wine.

👉Moreover, imagination is a beautiful sentiment.

👉Wine can never surpass the sensation of utopian world (Ideal imaginary world) , therefore, the poet seeks help from his poetic imagination instead of wine.

👉The poet has gone in deepest oblivion.
(a state of unawareness, a state of complete unconsciousness)

👉Scenery, described in fourth, fifth and sixth stanzas of the poem, reveals the mastery of poet in painting natural images.

👉The flowers, bushes, moon, rays, trees, nightingale and the flowers have been illustrated minutely by the poet.

👉If a person needs an essay on natural images written by John Keats, he should take lines from these stanzas.

👉No explanation is required as the lines, written by the poet are self-explanatory.

👉Anyhow, these stanzas are about pictorial imagination of the poet.

👉At the end, the poet wants to accept death.

👉He wants to die but leaves the idea of death as it will deprive him from the beautiful voice of nightingale.

👉He knows that if he died he will no more be able to hear the song of nightingale.

👉This song can only be enjoyed until he is alive, therefore, he prefers to live until death captures him.

👉Seventh stanza is a comparison between mortality and immortality.

👉The poet has put two things in comparison.
🔎 (1) Life
🔎 (2) Beautiful song of nightingale.

👉On one hand, life is mortal, no one can escape from death, it is possible to live forever.

👉Everything will be ended one day.

👉For instance, #Helen_of_Troy may have been the most beautiful lady in the world but she has expired; #Shakespeare may have been a great writer but he has also died; similarly, death has also approached #John_Keats.

👉If something is alive then it is art.

👉But song of nightingale, on the other hand, is immortal.

👉The poet says that many persons have enjoyed it and it will be enjoyed even after his death.

👉While exemplifying his concept, he gives reference of a maiden, who has been captivated by a cruel king yet, he says, she may have listened the song of nightingale.

👉It has been heard by kings, by knights, by warriors and by maidens.

👉Thus, the poet proves that song of nightingale is immortal, whereas life, on the other hand is mortal.

👉In last stanza of the poet, the poet’s mood is full of sadness.

👉He has uses the word “forlorn”.
(Which means loneliness, worries and pains of life)

👉Perhaps, he has returned from his imagination.

👉Song, flowers, trees and his imagination have inspired him but he has to come back in the real world; he has no other option because he cannot stay in the imaginative world forever.

👉He gives an example of fairy, who transforms the real world into a utopian world for a while.
(Utopian world means an ideal world that is completely free from hardships, pains and worries)

👉The poet knows that the world of imagination though gives peace yet it is a lie.

👉He calls it a “deceiving elf”.
(Elf is a supernatural figure in folk tale which is very small, having pointed ears, and having magical powers)

👉At the end, the song of nightingale fades and it grows dimmer.  

👉“Ode to Nightingale”, in short words, is the expression of feelings.

👉It is a highly impressive poem of John Keats.

👉The poem shows that he is a true romantic and a pure poet.

👉It reveals strong imaginative power of the poet.

👉The poet has successfully managed to describe nature and its objects.

👉He has proved that song of nightingale is immortal. It has also been proved that imagination is pleasurable and the life is painful.

👉After reading this poem, it can be adjudged that John Keats is the best romantic poet and no one can surpass him.