Ode to a Nightingale by J O H N K E ATS

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.

This poem ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ is about the poet’s experience of listening to the beautiful song of the Nightingale. Keats explores his own suffering and extreme aggression related that maybe he takes something (numbness, drunk homlock’s plant’, a pain killer, and Lethe-wards (If one drink of water that is forget everything). He give own opinion about his favorite wine ( specific wine by province(France) and the bowl of the wine coming from south, and describing, his related his emotions, expressions and his situation. After that, he explores human being and nature (specially human pains, irritation, illness, youth growth and women brightness related problems). Then he describes own imagination that fly with (Nightingale) at night, The God of wine will not come to pick my cup and everything is black in night but the only thing at their we can see is the moon. He stands in forest then he feels a type of smell from flowers, guesses the fruits and month. He compares the fruits and flowers with darkness and death. Furthermore, Keats explores the situation and self-experience related death, his possibility own death and effects related to nightingale, then he communicate with (Nightingale) called immortal bird and tells about the reach of his voice and the name, location and situation of the listeners. At the end the situation of the poem like a description of a voice (Forlorn, a specific voice which draws him to reality and Keats wake-up, now he cursed Nightingale, called cheater and go to go (Adieu) their voice is painful for him, he said about the location of her voice and ask some questions.

Is this a walking dream? The song that I listened recently, Do I wake or sleep?

Ode to a Nightingale victorian version

I feel pain, and a drowsy numbness pains

My sense, as though I rejected to 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,

Feeling pain in thine happiness,—

That thou, residence of buildings have taken over

In some apartment playing music

Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,

Singest of summer with a great beat ease.

O, don’t want a taste 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 don’t want a purple-stained mouth;

That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,

And cannot fade with thee into the forest dim because of light:

Fade far away, I cannot disconnect myself to 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 am not able to fly to thee,

Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,

But I was not able to fly couse of having no wings;

But I can fly with the invention that modernization has brought

Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:

Already with thee! tender is the night,

And the Queen-Moon has lost its power

Because the buildings are as bright as the sun at night;

Cluster'd around by all the building;

But here is light everywhere,

Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown

Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.

I can see everything that is at my feet,

Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,

But, in brightness, 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 flies on summer eves.

lightness I listen; and, for many a time

The poet talks about in the poem to be in nature (in the forest) with the nightingale but if we look at it from the perspective of Victorian poetry human beings are going towards advancements day by day and they are cutting down trees and making buildings to replace trees. So, there are more buildings and less trees so the poet can’t fully enjoy the beauty of nature (The beauty of the forest). He also mentions the nightingale in the poem that it’s the light winged Dryad of trees means nightingale is the goddess of trees but we can convert it with human beings because they are the ones who are making buildings to replace forests, they are taking the home of the nightingale away from it.

The poet wants to go away from human beings in nature with the nightingale to spend a night in the forest, and at night all he can see is the moon. But we can convert it to make it Victorian by saying that there are buildings everywhere and they are producing so much light that at night we can feel as if it’s a day. And because there are lights everywhere the poet cannot fully appreciate the darkness of night.

The romantic view is Keats uses his imagination to fly away with the nightingale in nature. The Victorian view is, in the real-world human being cannot fly, God didn’t design human beings in a way that they can fly. Furthermore he fly with his imagination, hard-work, new inventions, resources in the shape of visits country to country on airplane and through rocket goes to mission into space.

There’s one part of the poem where Keats is appreciating the beauty of the voice of the nightingale and saying that it feels like the nightingale is singing deep down from his soul. The Victorian point of view can be the poet cannot fully enjoy/appreciate the beautiful voice of nightingale because of the noise pollution that the human beings are causing for example the noise pollution caused by factories and cars etc. The sound of nature is decreasing and the sounds caused by human beings are increasing. So, Keats cannot fully focus on the song of the nightingale.

There is a part in the poem where he says that he is half dead means that he is half dead and half alive. And he is also referring to the nightingale as an immortal bird means that he is not created to die. By saying this Keats is using his imagination that he is half dead and the nightingale is immortal, but the Victorian viewpoint can be, in real life a man can only live once and die once, not only human beings but every other living being as well. We can say that in this part Keats is questioning against the rules of God’s plans of life. A man cannot be half dead and half alive at the same time.

Literary devices

Analogy; Analogy is the comparison between trees and buildings. The buildings are replacing trees and it’s a comparison between both of the things.

Simili: Simili is that the buildings are almost as bright as the sun at night and night has lost it’s power of darkness because of the lights of the buildings. Night is known to be dark but the buildings are so bright that the night is almost like a day.

Symbolism: Keats is saying that the nightingale is singing a very beautiful song. Its voice is very pleasing. We can say that according to Victorian perspective, the song or music which is played with musical instruments are also very beautiful and pleasing. The musical instruments are a symbol of pleasure and enjoyment.

https://medium.com/@musleh.saadi/ode-to-a-nightingale-by-john-keats-eec941ce4590

Ode to a Nightingale