"Ode to a Nightingale" Themes

In the early months of 1819, Keats was living with his friend Brown at Wentworth place Hampstead. In April a nightingale built her nest in the garden. Keats felt a tranquil and continual joy in its plum tree, he composed a poem containing his poetic feeling about the song of the nightingale. This ode was first published in July, 1819.

Summary of John Keats Poem Ode to a Nightingale

The main theme of the poem dismisses the optimistic quest for joy found inside Keats' prior verse and, all things being equal, investigates the subjects of nature, fleetingness and mortality, the last being especially applicable to Keats. The nightingale described experiences a sort of death however doesn't really die.

**Summary of the Poem "Ode to a Nightingale":**

In the first stanza the poet has given an account of the profound influence of the sweet song of the Nightingale upon him. The song has made the poet intoxicated. It seems he has drunk hemlock or dived in the Lethe. In this stanza the poet has also given an account of the dwelling place of the Nightingale. In the second stanza the poet has imagined to drink a draught of vintage and he wants to make a flight to the imaginary world drinking powerful wine. In the third stanza the poet represents himself as an escapist. He thinks that the world is full of sorrows, suffering and anxieties. Here men sit and hear each other groan. In the fourth stanza the poet wants to make a flight to the Nightingale's world which is full of ideal beauty. Fifth stanza is remarkable for the delicate pictorial quality. Sixth stanza is noteworthy because in this stanza the poet has depicted the vivid influence of the sweet song of the bird. The poet is even ready to die while enjoying the song. In the seventh stanza the poet has made a contrast between the perpetuity of the song and the mortality of human beings. We are subjected to decay while the song of Nightingale will remain influential forever. The eighth stanza is remarkable for here the poet represents himself as a realist. The poet comes to reality and says that the Nightingale is a deceiving elf and it can never make him quite forgetful about reality.

Ode to a Nightingale is noteworthy for its sensuousness. It is said that John Keats is a great sensuous poet. His description of nature is so vivid that it seems we are in the nature. His description of flower is so delicate that it seems we are smelling the flower. In the 2nd stanza the poet has given a very sensuous picture. The poet longs for a draught of vintage

"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 provencal song, and sunburnt mirth!"

Thus the whole poem is enriched with the sensuous quality.

Pictorial quality is one of the most conspicuous characteristics of Ode to a Nightingale. The poet has used very suitable words and phrases to draw the picture. Keats' power of depicting picture is obvious in the fourth stanza.

"And haply the Queen- Moon is on her throne

Clustered around by all her starry Fays."

Keats' love for the mythology has been vivified in this poem. At the very outset of this poem we find that the poet has mentioned the name of the river Lethe, the river of forgetfulness flowing through dungeon. Even the legend of the Nightingale has been chosen from the Greek mythology. The name of Bacchus, god of wine, is also mentioned in the fourth stanza. Thus Keats's Hellenism is conspicuous in this poem.

The Ode to a Nightingale is a highly romantic poem. Its romanticism is due to its rich sensuousness, its note of intense desire and its deep melancholy, its suggestiveness and sweet music and its fresh and original phrases. Two lines in the poem represent the high water mark of pure romanticism—

"The same that oft- times hath

Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn."

The touch of the supernatural, the mystery, and above all the suggestiveness of these lines have made them a test by which pure': romantic poetry can be judged and measured.

The Ode to a Nightingale is a great poem in many respects. It is the high water mark in romantic poetry. Both in point of high imaginative conception and of noble, almost perfect execution, the ode is one of the very greatest that has ever been written by any poet. However we may end our discussion with the opinion of Robert Bridges who says, "I cannot name an English poem of the same length which contains so much beauty as this ode."