Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, and Ode to...

Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, and Ode to Autumn The casual reader of John Keats poetry would most certainly be impressed by the exquisite and abundant detail of its verse, the perpetual freshness of its phrase and the extraordinarily rich sensory images scattered throughout its lines. But, without a deeper, more intense reading of his poems as mere parts of a larger whole, the reader may miss specific themes and ideals which are not as readily apparent as are the obvious stylistic hallmarks. Through Keats eyes, the world is a place full of idealistic beauty, both artistic and natural, whos inherent immortality, is to him a constant reminder of that man is irrevocably subject to decay and death. This theme†¦show more content†¦In this case, the visionary action is the poet slowly lapsing into the nightingales world, opening his senses to the true nature of the bird while other men sit and hear each other groan (Norton 1845). This state of semiconsciousness allows for his understanding that, although it is mid-May, the bird singest of summer in full-throated ease (Norton 1845). The nightingale, whose song so perfectly embodies a particular season that the poet is unable to be mistaken about its meaning, expresses the beauty of nature in a way which man is incapable. The poet is also seeing the bird as timeless, for the summer exists within the nightingale regardless of it being mid-May. In stanza seven the poet reveals the nightingale for what it truly is: a symbol natures immortal beauty. The bird has now entirely escaped the physical limitations of the poets world where all is subject to death and decay, for it wast not born for death, and is an immortal bird living in an imaginary realm. It lives outside of the human world where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, yet still affects the poet so profoundly that he wonders if it was a vision or a waking dream? (Norton 1847). Keats, in experiencing the song as he describes, idealises the nightingale and elevates the bird to a singular embodiment of unchanging naturalShow MoreRelatedEssay on Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats1525 Words   |  7 PagesOde on a Grecian Urn by John Keats Summary In the first stanza, the speaker, standing before an ancient Grecian urn, addresses the urn, preoccupied with its depiction of pictures frozen in time. It is the still unravishd bride of quietness, the foster-child of silence and slow time. He also describes the urn as a historian, which can tell a story. He wonders about the figures on the side of the urn, and asks what legend they depict, and where they are fromRead MoreExploring How Keats Finds Beauty In Death Essay1180 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"To Autumn†, which Keats wrote after observing an autumn evening, is seemingly simplistic and purely descriptive. However, underneath the surface, Keats has finally begun to accept the difficult truth that death is inevitable. Through the poem â€Å"To Autumn†, Keats urges humankind to accept death as a natural part of human life and to recognize the beauty in death. The first stanza is crowded with sensual and concrete images of nature and its ripeness during the first stages of Autumn. Autumn is characterizedRead MoreA Thing of Beauty Is a Joy for2507 Words   |  11 Pages`A thing of beauty is a joy forever`. How far and in what ways does Keats communicate this belief in his odes. Emotion was the key element of any Romantic poet, the intensity of which is present in all of Keats poems. Keats openly expressed feelings ignoring stylistic rules which suppressed other poets. Keat#8217;s poems display a therapeutic experience, as many of his Odes show a sense of struggle to accept, and a longing to search for an emotion which he could feed off for his eternity.Read MoreSimilarities and Dissimilarities Between Shelley and Keats6975 Words   |  28 Pagesabout nature in itself, Shelley tends to invoke nature as a sort of supreme metaphor for beauty, creativity, and expression. This means that most of Shelleys poems about art rely on metaphors of nature as their means of expression: the West Wind in Ode to the West Wind becomes a symbol of the poetic faculty spreading Shelleys words like leaves among mankind, and the skylark in To a Skylark becomes a symbol of the purest, most joyful, and most inspired creative impulse. The skylark is not a birdRead MoreThe Literary Techniques Used to Evoke the World of Senses in Keats Odes 1561 Words   |  7 Pagesan assortment of ways. In the Odes of John Keats we are witness to an extensive use of literary techniques. Keats uses a variety of approaches in order to evoke the world of senses throughout his poetry. His Odes ‘on Indolence’ and ‘to Psyche’, ’a Nightingale’, ‘To Autumn’ and ‘Ode on Melancholy’ all demonstrate Keats amazing ability to arouse the senses of his readers with his diverse and vast use of literary and poetic techniques. In Keats â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† we see the sense embodied throughRead MoreA Classical View Of The Romantic Movement1877 Words   |  8 PagesHypothesis: John Keats’ Odes were heavily influence by Classical ideologies which related to the wider philosophy of the Romantic Movement. This essay will apply a Classical perspective to John Keats’ Odes. I will examine how John Keats was inspired by the ideologies of the Greeks and Roman mythology. John Keats based his Odes on Roman myths and Greek artefacts; he used these to explore wider themes that relate to Greek Philosophy. This essay will show how Keats related the wider philosophy of theRead MoreThe Beauty And Richness Of Autumn By John Keats1391 Words   |  6 Pagesthan the beauty around them, will let life pass them, missing out on the true wonders of the world. In his poem â€Å"To Autumn,† John Keats utilizes imagery to express the importance of indulging in the beauties of nature, while alive, because humans are mortal beings bound by the limits of time. Throughout the beginning of the poem, Keats touches on the beauty and richness of autumn. He accomplishes this by introducing distinct fall imagery. For example, Keats writes in lines 5 and 6, â€Å"To bend withRead MoreAnalysis Of John Keats s Poem2045 Words   |  9 PagesHampstead. There he met and fell in love with his neighbour, an 18-year old girl called Fanny Brawne. This was the beginning of when John Keats wrote his best poems including: The Eve of St Agnes , La Belle Dame Sans Merci , Ode to a Nightingale and To Autumn From September 1819, Keats did not write a lot more of his own poetry. His financial difficulties became worse. He got engaged to Fanny Brawne, but with no money there was not much chance of marrying. In early 1820, he began toRead More Aspects of a Sonnet Essay2511 Words   |  11 Pagesbright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did sun more beautifully steep. (Composed upon Westminster Bridge, line 8 9) Another famous English poet was John Keats (1795-1820), he died young and as a result his work on sonnet and odes were only fully appreciated when he died. His first mature work was the sonnet On First Looking into Chapmans Homer (1816), written after fully devoting himself to poetry at the age of twenty-one. Marked by vivid imagery, great sensuous appealRead MoreAnalysis Of Sonnets By John Keats1967 Words   |  8 PagesFears that I May Cease to Be† and it stuck with me. I remember being enthralled by how he questioned the prospect of mortality and the language he uses. I’ve only read a few of Keats’ other works since, such as â€Å"Ode to a Grecian Urn,† â€Å"La Belle Dame sans Merci,† â€Å"To Autumn,† â€Å"Ode to Nightingale,† and â€Å"On Seeing the Elgin Marbles† for example. Therefore, I was only familiar with a couple of his sonnets so I decided that I wanted to focus my project on that. I’m excited to read them all and see how they