John Keats: Ode to a Nightingale

John Keats: Ode to a Nightingale

1. Poet's ecstatic and overwhelming response to a nightingale's song

   • Nightingale and its song are presented as un-ageing and immortal
   • Escaping the hardships of life

2. Realism asserts itself in the suggestions of death "embalmed darkness"

   • Imagination cannot offer him a lasting means of escape
     • The magical journey inspired by the bird's song is over and the poet must return to reality
     • "The fancy cannot cheat so well"

3. Transported me to a world rich in sensuous appeal

   • His " heart aches" upon seeing the nightingale and its happiness
     • Hopes to fade away with it "into the forest dim"
       • He will reach the perfect world through the nightingale's song
         • Means of imagination
           • Fly there on "the viewless wings of posey"
             • Stays until the "plaintive anthem fades" and he must return

4. Fears he may "leave the world unseen" and is alone and forgotten

5. Imagination can provide a means not only of producing the beauty of poetry, but also escaping

   • Contrast is sharply drawn between the perfection and permanence of the bird's song, and the imperfection and transcience of real life