Keats' Odes

Start with an ode

If you are starting with Ode to a Nightingale, the mind map John Keats: Ode to a Nightingale offers a way into the poem through the speaker's response to the bird's song. It also considers the song's apparent immortality and the return of realism. The slide set on the same ode describes the wish to escape the pressures of daily life, giving you another way to approach the poem.

For To Autumn, start with Autumn. This mind map describes the poem's celebration of nature alongside a sense of melancholy. It also considers the passing seasons and the temporary nature of human existence.

Move from themes to details

Once you have an overview of To Autumn, use To Autumn - John Keats to look more closely at language. The map highlights lexis and imagery, including simile and alliteration. The note titled To Autumn contains the poem's text, so you can read the passages alongside the points in the map.

The Context - To Autumn mind map adds background, including a countryside walk associated with the poem. You can compare that background with what the theme and language maps draw out. The flashcard deck on To Autumn offers another format for studying the poem.

Connect the resources

After looking at individual poems, use Keats' Major Odes to consider themes such as death, change and beauty across the odes it lists. Compare those themes with the ideas you found in the maps on the individual poems. The mind maps on Keats' odes also offer context for the sequence.

Keats' Odes is a section of the Romanticism unit in Literature. These resources give you ways to study the poems within that unit, whether you begin with an individual ode or a map of the major odes. Choose a map and follow it with a resource in another format.