Ode on Melancholy: This poem is sad, as might be guessed by the title, yet very slightly hopeful with the sense of somebody shaking off that melancholy. The sadness tends to be the ruling mood, though. The natural imagery in this poem is all related to death, poisonous plants and animals related to death. It fits the mood of person considering making use of those plants. In that way it is very Romantic. Callie Stribling, Period 6
Ode on a Grecian Urn Keats' poem depicts a narrator confronted with a Grecian urn that is covered with illustrations. The narrator tries to interact with the urn, asking questions of it ("What men or gods are these?"), but receives no answer. However, while the urn is not able to respond, the narrator recognizes the advantages of the urn's depictions. One picture shows a piper sitting under a tree with his lover. While he cannot kiss her, "She cannot fade," and her beauty will endure forever. Another picture shows green trees, which will never have to shed their leaves. This brings the reader to the meaning of the poem. While the pictures on the urn are able to live forever, they cannot truly live. They cannot achieve or experience anything. Keats' poem draws attention to this conflict, and makes the reader wonder about the value of experiencing life rather than just having it. This focus on the individual and its value make this a romantic piece, and the poem gives readers a realization of just how precious life is. Thomas Massad, Period 7
Michelle Zhang, 6th Pd "Ode to a Nightingale" The narrator uses the nightingale’s song as creative inspiration in his quiet reflection, and it drives his passage from drunken denial of human misery to an awakening to the capacities of human imagination. In the first few stanzas, the narrator is convinced he can’t live without the bottle—he must “drink, and leave the world unseen”. In this intoxicated frenzy, the narrator describes the pastoral nature around him, an oddly peaceful view for someone so troubled and drowned in alcohol. The poem voices despair, emphasized by the tiresome burden of life through the wearied tone of the narrator, who has “been half in love with easeful Death” as an escape from this suffering. As the poem progresses, however, the narrator awakens from his drunken state, inspired by the nightingale’s song to escape the need of intoxication. The nightingale’s music urges the narrator to express himself through the “viewless wings” of poetry and song, acknowledging that though life is harsh, man’s capability to absorb beauty, especially the beauty of nature, is worthy of celebration.
On "Ode to a Nightingale" The line "O for a draught of vintage" not only expresses Keats' desire to relive the 'good old times', and may also suggest an elixir of life, a drink to make one immoral, then "leave the world unseen". This lies in contrast with the hemlock Keats compares to a life of man, and in a dark sense relates true happiness to death, and departure from the present world.It seems that by pondering whether to sleep or wake, Keats makes a euphemism for suicide, contrasting the dull pain of life with this immortal bird to whom he wishes to fly. He also writes of "Provencal Song", elements of which are reflected in romantic music. Keats evokes horror from he reader while simultaneously portraying a scene where the young and wise turn old and lifeless, another key concept in romanticism. The nightingale in this poem represents the same idea a phoenix does in many other works of literature, for both are "immoratal Bird(s)". Keats exaggerates the bird's magnificence and youth to contrast the generations tiresome life he feel burdened by.
Keats includes and cites elements of nature in many of his lines. At several instances, Keats describes a member of the supernatural such as "Fays," or fairies, "alien corn," and "magic casements." Keats' allusion to characters and places, such as Bacchus and Hippocrene, help the reader interpret the poem the way the Keats wanted his readers to, following his path and effort to follow the nightingale. As Keats looses sight of the nightingale, he begins to wonder whether he was in a reality or in a dream, pushing the reader to debate the events using rational thought. This sensation made me wonder whether what we perceive as reality is actually a dimension frozen or slowed in universal time. Perhaps it is the exact opposite, where "reality" is faster than universal time.
In “Ode on Melancholy” Keats divides his advice and wisdom into three stanzas. In the first stanza, he turns one from “Wolf’s bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine” and Lethe, the Greek river of forgetfulness. He advices the melancholy to stay away from animals acquainted with death, and poisonous plants such as Proserpine’s ruby of grape. His second stanza moves unto what one should do. When in a melancholy fit, “glut thy sorrow on a morning rose, /Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave, /Or on the wealth of globed peonies”. By focusing on the beauty of surrounding nature, or by staring into the eyes of a lover, a hopeful mood can be embraced. By increasing an interest in nature, a key concept of romanticism, one can lighten their mood, and rid themselves of gloom. In the third stanza, Keats explains that pain and joy are intertwined. One’s beloved “dwells with Beauty-Beauty that must die”, because “in the very temple of Delight/Veiled Melancholy has her Sovran shrine”. No one can experience one without experiencing the other. Pleasures become poison at one moment or another. This poem like others is realistic, in the sense that there is both “good” and “evil” in the world, however unlike others it gives advice or direct action. It doesn’t just dwell on the problem, but provides closure as well.
Through the narrator Keats expresses weariness with the world he lives in, and his desire to escape “the weariness, the fever and the fret” that plagues him and those who share his life. He acknowledges that life’s pleasures, like youth, lasts for only fleeting moments before fading away into a gray background, one that eventually consumes all. But although he recognizes these tiresome pains, he still attempts some form of salvation, turning to the drink to numb the aches in his heart. Several times he mentions types of drinks, placed under euphemistic terms like Flora and Provencal Song, and compares them to the nature paradise he craves for. Even so, the narrator envies the pure happiness of the nightingale, whose satisfaction in life was only matched by the narrator in his dreams. Romanticism here flows through the imagery of nature, of the “white hawthorn” and “fast-fading violets cover’d up in leaves”. It is also expressed through the nightingale, whose simple happiness is a result of the bird’s untarnished well-being and delight in the beautiful prospects of nature.
Ode on Melancholy greatly contrasts another of his poems, Ode to a Nightingale, in the effect that Melancholy encourages the despairing to be strong and recognize the beauties in life. The beginning of the poem is a spontaneous warning, to not attempt to forget troubles or escape sorrow through death by poison, in being “kissed by nightshade” or decorate one’s “rosary with yew-berries”. Melancholy is expressed as beauty, a sorrowful beauty that true joy can only be attained by. The narrator encourages the notice of the small beauties in life, like the “morning rose” or the “rainbow of the salt sand-wave”. Using this gentle urge, Keats suggests at the same time the ability of a person’s sorrows to be expressed through nature, and their association of their pains with wildlife.
This poem begins with instruction on how to be melancholy, and gradually becomes more depressing. The distinctive Romantic element is the incorporation of nature. Keats lists the things in nature that are already sorrowful, including “poisonous wine” and “nightshade”, and deems these inappropriate accompaniments to one’s own misery, as they smother sadness with their own. He then proceeds to suggest the beauty in nature as a more fitting target for melancholy, mentioning several striking images that would normally lift one’s spirits. The final stanza of the poem, discussing how Melancholy dwells inside Delight, strongest among the would-be joy and pleasure, attributes near deity-like personalities to the concept of emotions, fitting with the increased respect for feelings in the Romantic Era. While I agree with Keats that when one wants to be sad, destroying good things is the most effective method, I dislike the manner in which this idea is presented. Rather than mentioning melancholy as a short-term phase that will fade, Keats speaks of the emotion like all beauty and good will eventually fall to it, and phrases his advice in a suggestion that melancholy is a desirable feeling that one strives for, a viewpoint I simply disagree with.
Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale" is a quintessentially Romantic poem because it equates a journey into nature (the woods, the song of the bird) with a journey into the self--especially the creative self. The drama of the poem lies in the speaker's progress from the world of eyesight and vision, into a world of other sensations (smell, sound, and even taste), then back into the commonplace realm. The patterns of imagery in the poem suggest the poet desires to move away from the domain of eyesight in the opening three stanzas--to leave the "world unseen"--a domain in which "Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes." The wish is paradoxically granted in the middle of the poem, in which the speaker relies more on smell and sound than on eyesight ("I cannot see what flowers are at my feet"). What is curious about the middle of the poem, of course, is that it invokes a deathlike state that, to the poet, represents a more vivid life than that lived in the ordinary world. Understandably, the experience is unsettling for the poet, and he returns to reality unsure of what is real and what is not.
With in Keats"Ode to a Nightingale" is a poem that takes on all of the key concepts of a romantic poem. In this poem Keats uses the idea of a Nightingale, a bird, blind to the sins and weariness of man, to illustrate the feelings of tiredness and longing for ignorance. He uses the phrase" My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains my sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk", such a simile gives off a mood of melancholy weariness. This weariness stems from life itself as Keats states he has "been half in love with easeful death". It is from this sorrow of man that Keats states how he longs to be ignorant and blissful like the Nightingale. But knowledge is his burden, is his soul's death. This theme is predominant through out the romantic period and this poem is a perfect example. I found this poem quite inspiring because of his use of natural imagery. Also I felt that he was quite right in saying he was half in love with death. I too have found that life can also be a tiring burden.
There are numerous elements revealed in Keats' "Ode on Melancholy" that implicates heavy correlation to the typical romantic poem. The most glaring theme thats emphasized in "Ode on Melancholy" is how one should confront and endure sadness. Keats uses nature as a cure, a weapon against melancholy, to "glut thy sorrow on a morning rose, Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave", a heavy component to any piece of romantic literature. Keats belief that one should not use "Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine; Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;" enforces a strong disapproval of committing suicide. His reference to "Proserpine,"--a mythological character--reveals the implementation of the supernatural, a device that is very common in romantic literature. This affirmation itself exposes the idealized nature of the poem, that life is indeed better than it really is, another critical axiom in romanticism. Naturally, Keats is extremely intrusive in his poem, ultimately directing in detail what one should do while in a melancholic state, another glaring aspect in romantic literature.
My reaction to the poem is rather subtle for I believe melancholy is topic that should be subjected to exploitation in a more realistic nature. A romantic scope to sadness seems to reduce the seriousness of the state. Objectivity and references to actual things that correlate to the phenomenal world will help audiences that are experiencing such sadness in a more effective manner. Romanticizing sadness in its literal term does nothing for the reader, for sadness most of the times are derived from institution, an element of man that romanticism tries to deviate from rather than solve.
Upon reading Keat's work, I noticed that in every one of his poems (on the list), he uses "Ode to a ..." as a prefix for his titles. Additionally, in all of this poems, he embeds an unqiue rhyming pattern. Ideally, Odes are meant to be sung, because of a special pattern, and in this specific one, he uses the ABABCDECDE pattern. His beginnings of stanzas, the "ABAB" serve as a strong openning introduction for whatever point he is trying to assert. Just like in a romantic song, Keats mimics this thought, for instance "Heard melodies are sweet, but those undheard are sweeter" After having laid down his foundation, he uses the "CDECDE" leftover to ice the cake. To show the climax, and finalize for the conclusion. For example, in the fourth stanza, his first lines are "Who are those coming to the sacrifice / And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?" He uses the introduction by asking a question, and finishes off the ending with "Why thou are desolate, can e'er return." This stanza structure goes deeper into constructing the entirety of the poem.
Ode on Melancholy This poem has a very sad theme to it. It can be seen as a romantic poem for several reasons. It mentions nature and makes many comparisons between life and nature in the poem. For example when talking about how melancholy puts a damper on life he says it “hides the green hill in an April shroud”. It can also be considered romantic because the poem is vaguely romantic. It describes a woman as dwelling “with Beauty—Beauty that must die” instead of calling her pretty. There is a more romantic and loving feel to his word choice. This poem was a little bit of a downer and ends with a universal that none can shatter melancholies harsh hold on humans. He really stresses that humans are useless against emotions and nature and it left me feeling lonely and hopeless. Annalee Alston Period 3
Keats utilizes the nightingale as the vehicle through which to convey his psychological contemplation of life and death. His lines are at first imbued with longing reminiscent of one who wishes to experience that unfathomable state of inebriation, hoping to “leave the world unseen”. However, Keats dismisses intoxication as his escape from the ephemerality of human life, choosing to take flight instead, on the “viewless wings of Poesy”. As he toys with the idea of fleeing reality through poetry, Keats becomes so enraptured by the nightingale’s song that he confesses he has been “half in love with easeful Death”, essentially embracing the human morality from which he had initially attempted to liberate himself. Keats’ poem culminates with his acknowledgement of the reality of his situation, for he realizes his internal spiritual debate was merely a dream. Throughout the poem, Keats emphasizes one of the key characteristics of Romantic poetry, namely, poignancy. Specifically, Keats evokes a variety of emotions by personifying the different phases of life, most notably death. While the manner in which Keats presents the nightingale as the physical manifestation of morality effectively conveys his conflicting emotions, his rapidly changing sentiments seem to indicate an individual disillusioned by the harsh unpredictability of human existence.
On "Ode to a Nightingale" Will Whitehurst, 7th Period
Here, Keats exemplifies the emotionally disturbed and melancholic aspects of Romantic poetry. Hopeless, morose imagery, the emotion of longing and much talk of death, all major hallmarks of melancholy, pervade the poem. However, the thing the speaker longs for the most is to get rid of his own pain and suffering, and through the poem, he wishes to find the best way to do so, conveyed through questions he asks himself and even the reader (breaking the fourth wall), as well as natural imagery comparing that quintessential animal of melancholy, the bird in general (hence the title, "Ode to a Nightingale"). Drowning away one's sorrows by imbibing in a nice vintage wine is seen as equivalent to hearing a bird's song or dancing. However, when the speaker contemplates death, he conveys his indecisive feelings through his choice of words, stating that he could never go so far as death, and he could not "cheat so well". Keats' pure, unadulterated melancholy easily connects with the reader.
The poem effectively meditates on one topic- obviously, this is the urn. Keats' basic claim is that: "Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal---yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade" or, in simpler words, that the urn is statis. The urn is a dimension where time has no meaning, a three-dimensional world (actually 2d, of course) to our four-dimensional one. Keats exalts this statis, and by the end of the poem says that this urn will be there long after any given event. This might or might not be true, but it certainly places Keats as Steelist rather than Sinist. He announces perfection is that which can never go away- as Steelist as one can be, without actually living out these ideals.
This is the paradox of art that makes no sense to rational people. Art captures an image, a thought, a concept at a point in time reflecting all that has led up to it and foretelling all that will follow without actually portraying the past and the future. The latter are for the reader to contemplate; art plays provocateur to its audience inviting them to wonder what led to this and what will become of this. It is not just to be read literally, but to be interpreted as one thing meaning something else. In Ode, the images of the urn reflect on a time and place and activities somewhere in Greece with idyllic images of people and trees. There is love, life, song, drink, and happiness, but these are unmoving and unfulfilling no matter how wonderful life in the images are portrayed; it is so full and yet unfulfilled at the same time. Metaphors like “unravished bride of quietness” and “foster child of silence and slow time” create a tempo built on conflicting feelings. Allusions to places in Greece provide setting, while oxymorons like “unheard melodies”, “forever new/young”, and “cold pastoral” illustrate the dichotomy of art. Ode evokes contrasting feelings (frustration, suspense, emptiness) versus the serenity of a pastoral life some time long ago in a far away land, with characters that are immortal but frozen in time still waiting for what comes next. They are having cake that will never be eaten, nor will ever spoil.
The poem starts with a tone of human pain and misery. This tone is existent throughout the poem. However, Keats uses the Nightingale as a symbol of hope, inspiration, and happiness. The Romanticism in the poem comes from all the included emotion. The narrator is in a dark area, where there is no light, and death occurs frequently. For this reason, the poet tells the bird to fly away and enjoy its life of bliss, because it cannot die. This bliss is attainable, but it cannot be eternal, as a soul must die. The poem made me understand that while life can become miserable, there is always hope, and happiness will occur at times, but both happiness and pain are meant to be experienced in life.
The poem gradually digresses into a sad and depressing tone, "sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud," demonstrating the melancholy that Keats intended. This melancholy is Romantically compared to occurrences of nature that evoke human emotional responses. The mood is also related to "beauty-beauty that must die." Parallel to this example, the melancholic cloud shall "glut thy sorrow on the morning rose" to which joy and happiness are overcome. Interactions between such points in nature illustrate this relatively focused expression of the melancholic emotion.
This poem shows how a few scenes are frozen in time on an urn, like a tree that cannot shed its leaves (a reference to nature that makes this poem Romantic), or a lover that cannot kiss his love, but will always love her. It reflects on how the people on the urn are mysterious to us, but also how they are happy. "Though thou hast not thy bliss, for ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!" he writes, and "And, happy melodist, unwearied, for ever piping songs for ever new, more happy love! more happy, happy love!" They were painted in joy, and they will stay in joy for eternity. Even when "old age shall this generation waste," the urn will remain in all its beauty and the people will still be happy. I think this poem is optimistic, and left me feeling happy, knowing that there would always be that little bit of joy in the world.
This poem really confused me. I guessed by the end that Keats was describing images depicted on the Grecian urn. The sacrifice and the forest described in great detail astounded him, and then he comments "When old age shall this generation waste, thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe, than ours, a friend to man" (46-48). This is to say that as man dies over the years, the urn will still be here. The beauty it depicts will still live as a cask for the dead ("thou shalt remain... a friend to man"), thus the dead is forever held in beauty. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know" (49-50).
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" begins with the speaker inspecting a Greek urn, with painted pictures that provide a history. The speaker describes the urn as the "still unravish'd bride of quietness," its pictures surviving through "slow time" until the present day. Keats emphasizes the importance of natural religion through his description of young men playing pipes, coming to the "green altar, O mysterious priest" who "lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies." Keats' emphasis on the nature-infused religion of the Greeks, as well as his obvious interest in the emotions of "happy love" and the "happy piping songs" that the young men play place him firmly into the category of Romanticists who valued emotion and natural beauty above all else.
In "Ode to a Nightingale", the narrator considers suicide and his sadness but is then reminded of the happiness and immortality of nature. As nature brings the narrator joy, conversely it was the city of science and technology that brought him to such sadness. In describing this happy nature Keats alludes to the fountain of Hippocrene, which in Greek Mythology was thought to bring the drinker poetic prowess. Addressing the nightingale, nature's immortality is brought up in the way that although it is always changing is a constant presence in the world in all of it's wildness, a major romantic theme. The free-ness of nature is also a key idea in that of the nightingale and its independence from the changing world around it, a reference back to the romantic theme of spontaneity.
Ode on Melancholy Period 7 The poem is romantic because it integrates both optimistic emotion and nature. Nature, is also seen as a way of finding happiness and peace. When melancholy strikes, Wordsworth advises to "glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,\Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,"(15-16). The poem seems like it would evoke sadness for the readers, but in reality, it is more optimistic. The poems informs how to transcend through melancholy, it is not a poem who's intention is to pity those with depression.
Ode to a Grecian Urn Keats uses his language to convery a feeling of sadness in his poem, speaking about how though the young maidens cannot fade from the urn "never canst [the young man] kiss, Though winning near the goal," because the moment of the urn is frozen in time. It uses the classic Romanticism depressed air, because the young man knows that he can never kiss the girl. It also speaks of the nature and the surroundings, "What little town by river or sea-shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel," to create a mysterious atmosphere for the poem. The Grecian Urn is a moment of the old, natural life frozen in time, yet never progressing. Clare Lewis 7th Period
Keats "ode on Melancholy" is a dark a dreary poem describing how it is best to go ahead and kill your self rather then life. The poem begins with a description of various poisonous things with which to kill yourself, and is describing life in a way which would make it very depressing. He then opens the second stanza by describing how the sadness will eventually go away but even with that it is still best to kill yourself. In the final stanza he takes a more direct approach and describes a story of two loves who killed them selves. I personally find the poem incredibly disturbing with the idea that anybody would publish a piece of work seriously suggesting to everybody that they end their lives.
This poem has no pretense of cheerfulness, at once the reader recognizes the setting in a place so dark that one is almost forced to consider death. In the first stanza Keats tells the reader of how numb and empty he is, and elaborates on how numb he feels, to the point where he feels he had drank Hemlock. From the very beginning the heartbreak of the speaker is apparent, and the rest of the poem drowns the reader in sorrow, which is very moving and poignant to me.
"Ode to a Nightingale" In this poem, Keats relates nature to human suffering. He doesn't use imagery that puts nature in an uplifting, hopeful light, but rather one reminiscent of darkness. He numbly describes a nightingale's lack of ever knowing "the weariness, the fever, and the fret" so common to man. Keats also mourns that there is no light, "save what from heaven is with the breezes blown". The combination of referencing nature and death and what follows is extremely romantic about this poem. Keats even goes as far to say that he is "half in love with easeful Death", wanting "to cease upon the midnight with no pain". Keats shows that he has a hard time finding the beauty in life, not seeing "what flowers are at [his] feet" but understanding the tranquility and simplicity of death. At the end of all his musing, he still finds no conclusion, instead wondering if he is awake or asleep.
Keats’ entire poem is concerned with the pastoral Classical societies of the past, almost lamenting their loss (for the “silent form…dost tease us out of thought as doth eternity”). Yet Keats still treasures the urn for its unearthly beauty. The presence of this beauty in nature, from the “happy boughs,” to the personification in the trees not being able to “bid the Spring adieu,” and the scenery of the villages portrayed on the urn is characteristic of Romantic poetry. Keats supposes that though “[h]eard melodies are sweet…those unheard/are sweeter,” and that it is human nature to desire and strive towards illuminating the unknowns in ones life. However, consistent with the ambivalent attitude towards science at his time, Keats maintains that “[b]eauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know,” thus discouraging too much discovery lest we lose our natural roots, which have endured for centuries on the urn. The fact that the characters on the urn “do not grieve,” frozen as they are in their Classical utopia, suggests that only looking back on the past do we truly regret it. This attitude forces the reader to yearn for the days when humankind was one with nature (as opposed to the unclean, grimy industry that was Europe at the time), and conjures a sense of longing towards that happy, simple paradise.
John Keats takes a lot from Mythology here, using famous mythological people like Persephone and Psyche, whom tragedies happened to. While he says things that could be trying to encourage or cheer up, at the same time, he states that even then, many earthly things, such as beauty, will one day end. He quietly weaves the comparison of the existence of happiness and sadness in the same world and their interactions. At the same time, it's like a piece of advice. Something telling you to appreciate the good even when the bad exists all the time. I liked this poem much more than his other ones, not because it was shorter, but because it was more expressive, and to me had clearer imagery.
sorry for the double post. I posted on the comments of the wrong year.
Keats’s “drowsy numbness” from the alcohol was the result of an attempt to use alcohol as what it is, a depressant. As the poem develops, the substance doesn’t let him “leave the world unseen” as intended, but instead acts as more of a stimulant, expanding his consciousness to let him experience the world as a less burdened self. He relates to nature as an old friend rather than a distant entity, longing for its completeness and simplicity where one doesn’t have to ponder existence and as a result become “full of sorrow.” He sees that all men are equal and have basic sameness despite their rank as “emperor” or “clown.” Keats takes life as itself, not striving to find purpose for it and accepting that if one is ignorant, one can release oneself from mortal constraints and become “immortal.”
The imagery present in this poem is very strong. One example is the description of the moon. It combines both aspects of nature and its scenic aspects. This is trait of most Romantic works. Another Romantic trait is the strong use of emotion, particularly the kind of emotions found in this poem. It made me feel melancholy and despondent.
It wasn't hard for me to identify with Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale." My own life experiences helped me identify with him. It felt familiar to me, as if I walked in his shoes from a life cycle perspective. The Nightingale was a metaphor for a life led in it's prime, beginning with youthful bliss exalted and later tortured and by romantic love. I can understand his feelings of sadness and loss, questioning loves meaning and permanence. At times seeming much like a flashback and flash forward into the understanding of, and ability to feel love, loss and life complete with tinges of sorrow, regret and insanity.
"Ode to a Nightingale" Luisa Venegoni period 7 In this poem, Keats questions why his life can't be full of the happiness that the nightingale expresses. There is a shift in the middle of the poem, where the author goes from describing sad emotions and contemplating suicide, to craving and wondering what true happiness would feel like. There is very strong emotion in this poem, with a special focus on the contrast between life and death. This poem is also very dark. He says "I cannot see what flowers are at my feet," meaning that although he knows happiness is attainable, his life is too dark to be able to grasp it.
James Palaima is posting about: Ode on a Grecian Urn This poem title is interesting, in that rather than "Ode to a Grecian Urn" it is "Ode on a Grecian Urn". I believe that here ode refers not Keats's poem, but the story that the urn is telling (the ode on the urn) which Keats goes on to describe. He describes how the Urn eternally preserves that which is on it, speaking of the trees in eternal bloom. He pays special attention to the people, such as the two lovers who will be in love forever upon the urn's surface, and never have a chance to disappoint one another or fall out of love.
Keat starts his poem in a depressed state, and refers to the "Lethe-wards," which in Greek mythology is a river of forgetfulness. This reveals the central theme of the poem, and the poet's wishes to forget and "leave the world unseen." He then begins to wonder if he is dreaming or awake as the nightingale flies away. This poem can be considered Romantic, because it deals with nature, like the nightingale, and it expresses the author's strong emotions. These emotions are depicted through words like "aches," "pains," and "happiness." Keat then uses these emotions to describe how life is "dull" and meaningless, unless you learn to appreciate the small pleasures in life.
Keats presents Romanticism by describing scenes of nature, portraying images on the urn portraying wonderful life that cannot be realized because they are frozen in time. Contrast to real life which is always changing, not so wonderful, but truly alive. In a sense, Keats introduces a concept that is not logical, nor is it realistic."She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss" is an example of Keats detailing such contrast to real life on the urn. Literary devices include metaphors, allusions, and oxymorons. The "unravished bride of quietness" and the "foster child of silence and slow time" offer a new lens which the audience can look through. Allusions, such as the "Tempe," the "Arcady," and the "Attic" are locations in Greece, which provide as a reference for readers. Lastly, oxymoronic statements such as "unheard melodies" and "songs forever new" aids in describing certain characteristics of the subject. The poem evoked a dramatic and surprised feelings from the punctuation as well as visual and passionate feelings from the imagery and use of adjectives.
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" celebrates art's unfading beauty, showing through ekphrasis the significance of the arts in society during the Romantic era, as well as emphasizing human emotion in a manner common of Romanticism. Keats seems to suggest that in contrast to our ever changing world, art's immutability, that "[f]air youth, beneath the trees" who "canst not leave/ [his] song" and "those trees" which "no[t] ever can [...] be bare" hold a certain magic. While "all breathing human passion [...]/ leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd/ [with] [a] burning forehead, and a parching tongue", on the Grecian urn, the only emotions one might ever experience would be those of "happy love! more happy, happy love!" Apostrophe, which includes addresses to "ye soft pipes", "[f]air youth", and "[b]old lover" in the first stanza alone, helps to show Keats' passion toward the urn's majesty and makes his descriptions of the painted figures far more compelling for the reader than simple statements about what one can see on the urn. The repetition of "happy" in the second stanza of the poem similarly supports Keats' vehemence about the magnificence of what he sees, ostensibly, in front of him, as do assonance ("spirit ditties") and alliteration ("marble men and maidens"), which add to the aural beauty of the poem, reflecting the aesthetic beauty of the urn. In addition, allusions to Ancient Greece such as the mention of "deities or mortals [...]/ [in] Tempe," a vale which Greek poets called a favorite of Apollo and the muses, "or the dales of Arcady", a pastoral land of yore, support Keats' claims of the urn's simple, striking beauty, particularly since Romantics often turned to Classical works for inspiration. Strong imagery aided by connotative diction, evident in descriptions of a heifer's "silken flanks with garlands drest"or a "peaceful citadel,/ [...] emptied of [...] folk, [on a] pious morn" also add to the beauty of the piece and help readers to envision Keats' urn, whose glory [w]hen old age shall [his] generation waste,/ [...] shalt remain". Rebecca Pittel
Ode on Melancholy:
ReplyDeleteThis poem is sad, as might be guessed by the title, yet very slightly hopeful with the sense of somebody shaking off that melancholy. The sadness tends to be the ruling mood, though. The natural imagery in this poem is all related to death, poisonous plants and animals related to death. It fits the mood of person considering making use of those plants. In that way it is very Romantic.
Callie Stribling, Period 6
Ode on a Grecian Urn
ReplyDeleteKeats' poem depicts a narrator confronted with a Grecian urn that is covered with illustrations. The narrator tries to interact with the urn, asking questions of it ("What men or gods are these?"), but receives no answer. However, while the urn is not able to respond, the narrator recognizes the advantages of the urn's depictions. One picture shows a piper sitting under a tree with his lover. While he cannot kiss her, "She cannot fade," and her beauty will endure forever. Another picture shows green trees, which will never have to shed their leaves. This brings the reader to the meaning of the poem. While the pictures on the urn are able to live forever, they cannot truly live. They cannot achieve or experience anything. Keats' poem draws attention to this conflict, and makes the reader wonder about the value of experiencing life rather than just having it. This focus on the individual and its value make this a romantic piece, and the poem gives readers a realization of just how precious life is.
Thomas Massad, Period 7
Michelle Zhang, 6th Pd
ReplyDelete"Ode to a Nightingale"
The narrator uses the nightingale’s song as creative inspiration in his quiet reflection, and it drives his passage from drunken denial of human misery to an awakening to the capacities of human imagination. In the first few stanzas, the narrator is convinced he can’t live without the bottle—he must “drink, and leave the world unseen”. In this intoxicated frenzy, the narrator describes the pastoral nature around him, an oddly peaceful view for someone so troubled and drowned in alcohol. The poem voices despair, emphasized by the tiresome burden of life through the wearied tone of the narrator, who has “been half in love with easeful Death” as an escape from this suffering. As the poem progresses, however, the narrator awakens from his drunken state, inspired by the nightingale’s song to escape the need of intoxication. The nightingale’s music urges the narrator to express himself through the “viewless wings” of poetry and song, acknowledging that though life is harsh, man’s capability to absorb beauty, especially the beauty of nature, is worthy of celebration.
On "Ode to a Nightingale"
ReplyDeleteThe line "O for a draught of vintage" not only expresses Keats' desire to relive the 'good old times', and may also suggest an elixir of life, a drink to make one immoral, then "leave the world unseen". This lies in contrast with the hemlock Keats compares to a life of man, and in a dark sense relates true happiness to death, and departure from the present world.It seems that by pondering whether to sleep or wake, Keats makes a euphemism for suicide, contrasting the dull pain of life with this immortal bird to whom he wishes to fly.
He also writes of "Provencal Song", elements of which are reflected in romantic music. Keats evokes horror from he reader while simultaneously portraying a scene where the young and wise turn old and lifeless, another key concept in romanticism. The nightingale in this poem represents the same idea a phoenix does in many other works of literature, for both are "immoratal Bird(s)". Keats exaggerates the bird's magnificence and youth to contrast the generations tiresome life he feel burdened by.
6th Period, Response to Ode to a Nightingale:
ReplyDeleteKeats includes and cites elements of nature in many of his lines. At several instances, Keats describes a member of the supernatural such as "Fays," or fairies, "alien corn," and "magic casements." Keats' allusion to characters and places, such as Bacchus and Hippocrene, help the reader interpret the poem the way the Keats wanted his readers to, following his path and effort to follow the nightingale. As Keats looses sight of the nightingale, he begins to wonder whether he was in a reality or in a dream, pushing the reader to debate the events using rational thought. This sensation made me wonder whether what we perceive as reality is actually a dimension frozen or slowed in universal time. Perhaps it is the exact opposite, where "reality" is faster than universal time.
In “Ode on Melancholy” Keats divides his advice and wisdom into three stanzas. In the first stanza, he turns one from “Wolf’s bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine” and Lethe, the Greek river of forgetfulness. He advices the melancholy to stay away from animals acquainted with death, and poisonous plants such as Proserpine’s ruby of grape. His second stanza moves unto what one should do. When in a melancholy fit, “glut thy sorrow on a morning rose, /Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave, /Or on the wealth of globed peonies”. By focusing on the beauty of surrounding nature, or by staring into the eyes of a lover, a hopeful mood can be embraced. By increasing an interest in nature, a key concept of romanticism, one can lighten their mood, and rid themselves of gloom. In the third stanza, Keats explains that pain and joy are intertwined. One’s beloved “dwells with Beauty-Beauty that must die”, because “in the very temple of Delight/Veiled Melancholy has her Sovran shrine”. No one can experience one without experiencing the other. Pleasures become poison at one moment or another. This poem like others is realistic, in the sense that there is both “good” and “evil” in the world, however unlike others it gives advice or direct action. It doesn’t just dwell on the problem, but provides closure as well.
ReplyDeleteOde to a Nightingale
ReplyDeleteThrough the narrator Keats expresses weariness with the world he lives in, and his desire to escape “the weariness, the fever and the fret” that plagues him and those who share his life. He acknowledges that life’s pleasures, like youth, lasts for only fleeting moments before fading away into a gray background, one that eventually consumes all. But although he recognizes these tiresome pains, he still attempts some form of salvation, turning to the drink to numb the aches in his heart. Several times he mentions types of drinks, placed under euphemistic terms like Flora and Provencal Song, and compares them to the nature paradise he craves for. Even so, the narrator envies the pure happiness of the nightingale, whose satisfaction in life was only matched by the narrator in his dreams. Romanticism here flows through the imagery of nature, of the “white hawthorn” and “fast-fading violets cover’d up in leaves”. It is also expressed through the nightingale, whose simple happiness is a result of the bird’s untarnished well-being and delight in the beautiful prospects of nature.
Jeanne-Jo Gregory 6th period
Ode on Melancholy
ReplyDeleteOde on Melancholy greatly contrasts another of his poems, Ode to a Nightingale, in the effect that Melancholy encourages the despairing to be strong and recognize the beauties in life. The beginning of the poem is a spontaneous warning, to not attempt to forget troubles or escape sorrow through death by poison, in being “kissed by nightshade” or decorate one’s “rosary with yew-berries”. Melancholy is expressed as beauty, a sorrowful beauty that true joy can only be attained by. The narrator encourages the notice of the small beauties in life, like the “morning rose” or the “rainbow of the salt sand-wave”. Using this gentle urge, Keats suggests at the same time the ability of a person’s sorrows to be expressed through nature, and their association of their pains with wildlife.
Jeanne-Jo Gregory, 6th period
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ReplyDelete“Ode on Melancholy” by John Keats
ReplyDeleteThis poem begins with instruction on how to be melancholy, and gradually becomes more depressing. The distinctive Romantic element is the incorporation of nature. Keats lists the things in nature that are already sorrowful, including “poisonous wine” and “nightshade”, and deems these inappropriate accompaniments to one’s own misery, as they smother sadness with their own. He then proceeds to suggest the beauty in nature as a more fitting target for melancholy, mentioning several striking images that would normally lift one’s spirits. The final stanza of the poem, discussing how Melancholy dwells inside Delight, strongest among the would-be joy and pleasure, attributes near deity-like personalities to the concept of emotions, fitting with the increased respect for feelings in the Romantic Era. While I agree with Keats that when one wants to be sad, destroying good things is the most effective method, I dislike the manner in which this idea is presented. Rather than mentioning melancholy as a short-term phase that will fade, Keats speaks of the emotion like all beauty and good will eventually fall to it, and phrases his advice in a suggestion that melancholy is a desirable feeling that one strives for, a viewpoint I simply disagree with.
Courtney Trutna
3rd period
Keats's "Ode to a Nightingale" is a quintessentially Romantic poem because it equates a journey into nature (the woods, the song of the bird) with a journey into the self--especially the creative self. The drama of the poem lies in the speaker's progress from the world of eyesight and vision, into a world of other sensations (smell, sound, and even taste), then back into the commonplace realm. The patterns of imagery in the poem suggest the poet desires to move away from the domain of eyesight in the opening three stanzas--to leave the "world unseen"--a domain in which "Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes." The wish is paradoxically granted in the middle of the poem, in which the speaker relies more on smell and sound than on eyesight ("I cannot see what flowers are at my feet"). What is curious about the middle of the poem, of course, is that it invokes a deathlike state that, to the poet, represents a more vivid life than that lived in the ordinary world. Understandably, the experience is unsettling for the poet, and he returns to reality unsure of what is real and what is not.
ReplyDeleteWith in Keats"Ode to a Nightingale" is a poem that takes on all of the key concepts of a romantic poem. In this poem Keats uses the idea of a Nightingale, a bird, blind to the sins and weariness of man, to illustrate the feelings of tiredness and longing for ignorance. He uses the phrase" My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains my sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk", such a simile gives off a mood of melancholy weariness. This weariness stems from life itself as Keats states he has "been half in love with easeful death". It is from this sorrow of man that Keats states how he longs to be ignorant and blissful like the Nightingale. But knowledge is his burden, is his soul's death. This theme is predominant through out the romantic period and this poem is a perfect example. I found this poem quite inspiring because of his use of natural imagery. Also I felt that he was quite right in saying he was half in love with death. I too have found that life can also be a tiring burden.
ReplyDeleteFrom Bobbi Sears
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ReplyDelete"Ode on Melancholy" by John Keats
ReplyDeleteThere are numerous elements revealed in Keats' "Ode on Melancholy" that implicates heavy correlation to the typical romantic poem. The most glaring theme thats emphasized in "Ode on Melancholy" is how one should confront and endure sadness. Keats uses nature as a cure, a weapon against melancholy, to "glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave", a heavy component to any piece of romantic literature. Keats belief that one should not use "Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine; Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;" enforces a strong disapproval of committing suicide. His reference to "Proserpine,"--a mythological character--reveals the implementation of the supernatural, a device that is very common in romantic literature. This affirmation itself exposes the idealized nature of the poem, that life is indeed better than it really is, another critical axiom in romanticism. Naturally, Keats is extremely intrusive in his poem, ultimately directing in detail what one should do while in a melancholic state, another glaring aspect in romantic literature.
My reaction to the poem is rather subtle for I believe melancholy is topic that should be subjected to exploitation in a more realistic nature. A romantic scope to sadness seems to reduce the seriousness of the state. Objectivity and references to actual things that correlate to the phenomenal world will help audiences that are experiencing such sadness in a more effective manner. Romanticizing sadness in its literal term does nothing for the reader, for sadness most of the times are derived from institution, an element of man that romanticism tries to deviate from rather than solve.
David Liu period 3
ReplyDelete"Ode to a Grecian Urn"
Upon reading Keat's work, I noticed that in every one of his poems (on the list), he uses "Ode to a ..." as a prefix for his titles. Additionally, in all of this poems, he embeds an unqiue rhyming pattern. Ideally, Odes are meant to be sung, because of a special pattern, and in this specific one, he uses the ABABCDECDE pattern. His beginnings of stanzas, the "ABAB" serve as a strong openning introduction for whatever point he is trying to assert. Just like in a romantic song, Keats mimics this thought, for instance "Heard melodies are sweet, but those undheard are sweeter" After having laid down his foundation, he uses the "CDECDE" leftover to ice the cake. To show the climax, and finalize for the conclusion. For example, in the fourth stanza, his first lines are "Who are those coming to the sacrifice / And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?" He uses the introduction by asking a question, and finishes off the ending with "Why thou are desolate, can e'er return." This stanza structure goes deeper into constructing the entirety of the poem.
Ode on Melancholy
ReplyDeleteThis poem has a very sad theme to it. It can be seen as a romantic poem for several reasons. It mentions nature and makes many comparisons between life and nature in the poem. For example when talking about how melancholy puts a damper on life he says it “hides the green hill in an April shroud”. It can also be considered romantic because the poem is vaguely romantic. It describes a woman as dwelling “with Beauty—Beauty that must die” instead of calling her pretty. There is a more romantic and loving feel to his word choice. This poem was a little bit of a downer and ends with a universal that none can shatter melancholies harsh hold on humans. He really stresses that humans are useless against emotions and nature and it left me feeling lonely and hopeless.
Annalee Alston
Period 3
Ode to a Nightingale
ReplyDeleteHamsini Sriraman Period 7
Keats utilizes the nightingale as the vehicle through which to convey his psychological contemplation of life and death. His lines are at first imbued with longing reminiscent of one who wishes to experience that unfathomable state of inebriation, hoping to “leave the world unseen”. However, Keats dismisses intoxication as his escape from the ephemerality of human life, choosing to take flight instead, on the “viewless wings of Poesy”. As he toys with the idea of fleeing reality through poetry, Keats becomes so enraptured by the nightingale’s song that he confesses he has been “half in love with easeful Death”, essentially embracing the human morality from which he had initially attempted to liberate himself. Keats’ poem culminates with his acknowledgement of the reality of his situation, for he realizes his internal spiritual debate was merely a dream. Throughout the poem, Keats emphasizes one of the key characteristics of Romantic poetry, namely, poignancy. Specifically, Keats evokes a variety of emotions by personifying the different phases of life, most notably death. While the manner in which Keats presents the nightingale as the physical manifestation of morality effectively conveys his conflicting emotions, his rapidly changing sentiments seem to indicate an individual disillusioned by the harsh unpredictability of human existence.
On "Ode to a Nightingale"
ReplyDeleteWill Whitehurst, 7th Period
Here, Keats exemplifies the emotionally disturbed and melancholic aspects of Romantic poetry. Hopeless, morose imagery, the emotion of longing and much talk of death, all major hallmarks of melancholy, pervade the poem. However, the thing the speaker longs for the most is to get rid of his own pain and suffering, and through the poem, he wishes to find the best way to do so, conveyed through questions he asks himself and even the reader (breaking the fourth wall), as well as natural imagery comparing that quintessential animal of melancholy, the bird in general (hence the title, "Ode to a Nightingale"). Drowning away one's sorrows by imbibing in a nice vintage wine is seen as equivalent to hearing a bird's song or dancing. However, when the speaker contemplates death, he conveys his indecisive feelings through his choice of words, stating that he could never go so far as death, and he could not "cheat so well". Keats' pure, unadulterated melancholy easily connects with the reader.
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats
ReplyDeleteThe poem effectively meditates on one topic- obviously, this is the urn. Keats' basic claim is that:
"Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal---yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade"
or, in simpler words, that the urn is statis. The urn is a dimension where time has no meaning, a three-dimensional world (actually 2d, of course) to our four-dimensional one. Keats exalts this statis, and by the end of the poem says that this urn will be there long after any given event. This might or might not be true, but it certainly places Keats as Steelist rather than Sinist. He announces perfection is that which can never go away- as Steelist as one can be, without actually living out these ideals.
Youry Aglyamov, Per. 1
This is the paradox of art that makes no sense to rational people. Art captures an image, a thought, a concept at a point in time reflecting all that has led up to it and foretelling all that will follow without actually portraying the past and the future. The latter are for the reader to contemplate; art plays provocateur to its audience inviting them to wonder what led to this and what will become of this. It is not just to be read literally, but to be interpreted as one thing meaning something else. In Ode, the images of the urn reflect on a time and place and activities somewhere in Greece with idyllic images of people and trees. There is love, life, song, drink, and happiness, but these are unmoving and unfulfilling no matter how wonderful life in the images are portrayed; it is so full and yet unfulfilled at the same time. Metaphors like “unravished bride of quietness” and “foster child of silence and slow time” create a tempo built on conflicting feelings. Allusions to places in Greece provide setting, while oxymorons like “unheard melodies”, “forever new/young”, and “cold pastoral” illustrate the dichotomy of art. Ode evokes contrasting feelings (frustration, suspense, emptiness) versus the serenity of a pastoral life some time long ago in a far away land, with characters that are immortal but frozen in time still waiting for what comes next. They are having cake that will never be eaten, nor will ever spoil.
ReplyDelete"Ode to a Nightingale"
ReplyDeleteThe poem starts with a tone of human pain and misery. This tone is existent throughout the poem. However, Keats uses the Nightingale as a symbol of hope, inspiration, and happiness. The Romanticism in the poem comes from all the included emotion. The narrator is in a dark area, where there is no light, and death occurs frequently. For this reason, the poet tells the bird to fly away and enjoy its life of bliss, because it cannot die. This bliss is attainable, but it cannot be eternal, as a soul must die. The poem made me understand that while life can become miserable, there is always hope, and happiness will occur at times, but both happiness and pain are meant to be experienced in life.
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ReplyDeleteBy: Abdulkarim Bora
Period 3
"Ode on Melancholy" by John Keats
ReplyDeleteThe poem gradually digresses into a sad and depressing tone, "sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud," demonstrating the melancholy that Keats intended. This melancholy is Romantically compared to occurrences of nature that evoke human emotional responses. The mood is also related to "beauty-beauty that must die." Parallel to this example, the melancholic cloud shall "glut thy sorrow on the morning rose" to which joy and happiness are overcome. Interactions between such points in nature illustrate this relatively focused expression of the melancholic emotion.
-Zach Krebs, Period 7
Elizabeth Bowie, period 1
ReplyDelete"Ode on a Grecian Urn"
This poem shows how a few scenes are frozen in time on an urn, like a tree that cannot shed its leaves (a reference to nature that makes this poem Romantic), or a lover that cannot kiss his love, but will always love her. It reflects on how the people on the urn are mysterious to us, but also how they are happy. "Though thou hast not thy bliss, for ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!" he writes, and "And, happy melodist, unwearied, for ever piping songs for ever new, more happy love! more happy, happy love!" They were painted in joy, and they will stay in joy for eternity. Even when "old age shall this generation waste," the urn will remain in all its beauty and the people will still be happy. I think this poem is optimistic, and left me feeling happy, knowing that there would always be that little bit of joy in the world.
Alec Brown, Period 3
ReplyDelete"Ode to a Grecian Urn"
This poem really confused me. I guessed by the end that Keats was describing images depicted on the Grecian urn. The sacrifice and the forest described in great detail astounded him, and then he comments "When old age shall this generation waste, thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe, than ours, a friend to man" (46-48). This is to say that as man dies over the years, the urn will still be here. The beauty it depicts will still live as a cask for the dead ("thou shalt remain... a friend to man"), thus the dead is forever held in beauty. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know" (49-50).
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" begins with the speaker inspecting a Greek urn, with painted pictures that provide a history. The speaker describes the urn as the "still unravish'd bride of quietness," its pictures surviving through "slow time" until the present day. Keats emphasizes the importance of natural religion through his description of young men playing pipes, coming to the "green altar, O mysterious priest" who "lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies." Keats' emphasis on the nature-infused religion of the Greeks, as well as his obvious interest in the emotions of "happy love" and the "happy piping songs" that the young men play place him firmly into the category of Romanticists who valued emotion and natural beauty above all else.
ReplyDeleteRoger Cain
English 3
In "Ode to a Nightingale", the narrator considers suicide and his sadness but is then reminded of the happiness and immortality of nature. As nature brings the narrator joy, conversely it was the city of science and technology that brought him to such sadness. In describing this happy nature Keats alludes to the fountain of Hippocrene, which in Greek Mythology was thought to bring the drinker poetic prowess. Addressing the nightingale, nature's immortality is brought up in the way that although it is always changing is a constant presence in the world in all of it's wildness, a major romantic theme. The free-ness of nature is also a key idea in that of the nightingale and its independence from the changing world around it, a reference back to the romantic theme of spontaneity.
ReplyDeleteOde on Melancholy
ReplyDeletePeriod 7
The poem is romantic because it integrates both optimistic emotion and nature. Nature, is also seen as a way of finding happiness and peace. When melancholy strikes, Wordsworth advises to "glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,\Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,"(15-16). The poem seems like it would evoke sadness for the readers, but in reality, it is more optimistic. The poems informs how to transcend through melancholy, it is not a poem who's intention is to pity those with depression.
Ode to a Grecian Urn
ReplyDeleteKeats uses his language to convery a feeling of sadness in his poem, speaking about how though the young maidens cannot fade from the urn "never canst [the young man] kiss, Though winning near the goal," because the moment of the urn is frozen in time. It uses the classic Romanticism depressed air, because the young man knows that he can never kiss the girl. It also speaks of the nature and the surroundings, "What little town by river or sea-shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel," to create a mysterious atmosphere for the poem. The Grecian Urn is a moment of the old, natural life frozen in time, yet never progressing.
Clare Lewis 7th Period
Keats "ode on Melancholy" is a dark a dreary poem describing how it is best to go ahead and kill your self rather then life. The poem begins with a description of various poisonous things with which to kill yourself, and is describing life in a way which would make it very depressing. He then opens the second stanza by describing how the sadness will eventually go away but even with that it is still best to kill yourself. In the final stanza he takes a more direct approach and describes a story of two loves who killed them selves. I personally find the poem incredibly disturbing with the idea that anybody would publish a piece of work seriously suggesting to everybody that they end their lives.
ReplyDeleteMason Shea--1st
John Keats
ReplyDelete"Ode on Melancholy"
Sydney's mom
This poem has no pretense of cheerfulness, at once the reader recognizes the setting in a place so dark that one is almost forced to consider death. In the first stanza Keats tells the reader of how numb and empty he is, and elaborates on how numb he feels, to the point where he feels he had drank Hemlock. From the very beginning the heartbreak of the speaker is apparent, and the rest of the poem drowns the reader in sorrow, which is very moving and poignant to me.
"Ode to a Nightingale"
ReplyDeleteIn this poem, Keats relates nature to human suffering. He doesn't use imagery that puts nature in an uplifting, hopeful light, but rather one reminiscent of darkness. He numbly describes a nightingale's lack of ever knowing "the weariness, the fever, and the fret" so common to man. Keats also mourns that there is no light, "save what from heaven is with the breezes blown". The combination of referencing nature and death and what follows is extremely romantic about this poem. Keats even goes as far to say that he is "half in love with easeful Death", wanting "to cease upon the midnight with no pain". Keats shows that he has a hard time finding the beauty in life, not seeing "what flowers are at [his] feet" but understanding the tranquility and simplicity of death. At the end of all his musing, he still finds no conclusion, instead wondering if he is awake or asleep.
- Jenna Lang, 7th period
"Ode on a Grecian Urn"
ReplyDeleteKeats’ entire poem is concerned with the pastoral Classical societies of the past, almost lamenting their loss (for the “silent form…dost tease us out of thought as doth eternity”). Yet Keats still treasures the urn for its unearthly beauty. The presence of this beauty in nature, from the “happy boughs,” to the personification in the trees not being able to “bid the Spring adieu,” and the scenery of the villages portrayed on the urn is characteristic of Romantic poetry. Keats supposes that though “[h]eard melodies are sweet…those unheard/are sweeter,” and that it is human nature to desire and strive towards illuminating the unknowns in ones life. However, consistent with the ambivalent attitude towards science at his time, Keats maintains that “[b]eauty is truth, truth beauty—that is all/Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know,” thus discouraging too much discovery lest we lose our natural roots, which have endured for centuries on the urn. The fact that the characters on the urn “do not grieve,” frozen as they are in their Classical utopia, suggests that only looking back on the past do we truly regret it. This attitude forces the reader to yearn for the days when humankind was one with nature (as opposed to the unclean, grimy industry that was Europe at the time), and conjures a sense of longing towards that happy, simple paradise.
Priya Veeraraghavan (3rd Period)
ODE ON MELANCHOLY
ReplyDeleteJohn Keats takes a lot from Mythology here, using famous mythological people like Persephone and Psyche, whom tragedies happened to.
While he says things that could be trying to encourage or cheer up, at the same time, he states that even then, many earthly things, such as beauty, will one day end. He quietly weaves the comparison of the existence of happiness and sadness in the same world and their interactions. At the same time, it's like a piece of advice. Something telling you to appreciate the good even when the bad exists all the time.
I liked this poem much more than his other ones, not because it was shorter, but because it was more expressive, and to me had clearer imagery.
sorry for the double post. I posted on the comments of the wrong year.
Keats’s “drowsy numbness” from the alcohol was the result of an attempt to use alcohol as what it is, a depressant. As the poem develops, the substance doesn’t let him “leave the world unseen” as intended, but instead acts as more of a stimulant, expanding his consciousness to let him experience the world as a less burdened self. He relates to nature as an old friend rather than a distant entity, longing for its completeness and simplicity where one doesn’t have to ponder existence and as a result become “full of sorrow.” He sees that all men are equal and have basic sameness despite their rank as “emperor” or “clown.” Keats takes life as itself, not striving to find purpose for it and accepting that if one is ignorant, one can release oneself from mortal constraints and become “immortal.”
ReplyDeleteClare Zarker 1st
Ode to a Nightingale
ReplyDeleteThe imagery present in this poem is very strong. One example is the description of the moon. It combines both aspects of nature and its scenic aspects. This is trait of most Romantic works. Another Romantic trait is the strong use of emotion, particularly the kind of emotions found in this poem. It made me feel melancholy and despondent.
Katelyn Alexander 7th
"Ode to a Nightingale"
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't hard for me to identify with Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale." My own life experiences helped me identify with him. It felt familiar to me, as if I walked in his shoes from a life cycle perspective. The Nightingale was a metaphor for a life led in it's prime, beginning with youthful bliss exalted and later tortured and by romantic love. I can understand his feelings of sadness and loss, questioning loves meaning and permanence. At times seeming much like a flashback and flash forward into the understanding of, and ability to feel love, loss and life complete with tinges of sorrow, regret and insanity.
"Ode to a Nightingale"
ReplyDeleteLuisa Venegoni period 7
In this poem, Keats questions why his life can't be full of the happiness that the nightingale expresses. There is a shift in the middle of the poem, where the author goes from describing sad emotions and contemplating suicide, to craving and wondering what true happiness would feel like. There is very strong emotion in this poem, with a special focus on the contrast between life and death. This poem is also very dark. He says "I cannot see what flowers are at my feet," meaning that although he knows happiness is attainable, his life is too dark to be able to grasp it.
James Palaima is posting about: Ode on a Grecian Urn
ReplyDeleteThis poem title is interesting, in that rather than "Ode to a Grecian Urn" it is "Ode on a Grecian Urn". I believe that here ode refers not Keats's poem, but the story that the urn is telling (the ode on the urn) which Keats goes on to describe. He describes how the Urn eternally preserves that which is on it, speaking of the trees in eternal bloom. He pays special attention to the people, such as the two lovers who will be in love forever upon the urn's surface, and never have a chance to disappoint one another or fall out of love.
Ode to a Nightingale -Amber Mangalindan, period 8
ReplyDeleteKeat starts his poem in a depressed state, and refers to the "Lethe-wards," which in Greek mythology is a river of forgetfulness. This reveals the central theme of the poem, and the poet's wishes to forget and "leave the world unseen." He then begins to wonder if he is dreaming or awake as the nightingale flies away. This poem can be considered Romantic, because it deals with nature, like the nightingale, and it expresses the author's strong emotions. These emotions are depicted through words like "aches," "pains," and "happiness." Keat then uses these emotions to describe how life is "dull" and meaningless, unless you learn to appreciate the small pleasures in life.
"Ode on a Grecian Urn"
ReplyDeleteMegan Wei 1st
Keats presents Romanticism by describing scenes of nature, portraying images on the urn portraying wonderful life that cannot be realized because they are frozen in time. Contrast to real life which is always changing, not so wonderful, but truly alive. In a sense, Keats introduces a concept that is not logical, nor is it realistic."She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss" is an example of Keats detailing such contrast to real life on the urn. Literary devices include metaphors, allusions, and oxymorons. The "unravished bride of quietness" and the "foster child of silence and slow time" offer a new lens which the audience can look through. Allusions, such as the "Tempe," the "Arcady," and the "Attic" are locations in Greece, which provide as a reference for readers. Lastly, oxymoronic statements such as "unheard melodies" and "songs forever new" aids in describing certain characteristics of the subject. The poem evoked a dramatic and surprised feelings from the punctuation as well as visual and passionate feelings from the imagery and use of adjectives.
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ReplyDelete"Ode on a Grecian Urn" celebrates art's unfading beauty, showing through ekphrasis the significance of the arts in society during the Romantic era, as well as emphasizing human emotion in a manner common of Romanticism. Keats seems to suggest that in contrast to our ever changing world, art's immutability, that "[f]air youth, beneath the trees" who "canst not leave/ [his] song" and "those trees" which "no[t] ever can [...] be bare" hold a certain magic. While "all breathing human passion [...]/ leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd/ [with] [a] burning forehead, and a parching tongue", on the Grecian urn, the only emotions one might ever experience would be those of "happy love! more happy, happy love!" Apostrophe, which includes addresses to "ye soft pipes", "[f]air youth", and "[b]old lover" in the first stanza alone, helps to show Keats' passion toward the urn's majesty and makes his descriptions of the painted figures far more compelling for the reader than simple statements about what one can see on the urn. The repetition of "happy" in the second stanza of the poem similarly supports Keats' vehemence about the magnificence of what he sees, ostensibly, in front of him, as do assonance ("spirit ditties") and alliteration ("marble men and maidens"), which add to the aural beauty of the poem, reflecting the aesthetic beauty of the urn. In addition, allusions to Ancient Greece such as the mention of "deities or mortals [...]/ [in] Tempe," a vale which Greek poets called a favorite of Apollo and the muses, "or the dales of Arcady", a pastoral land of yore, support Keats' claims of the urn's simple, striking beauty, particularly since Romantics often turned to Classical works for inspiration. Strong imagery aided by connotative diction, evident in descriptions of a heifer's "silken flanks with garlands drest"or a "peaceful citadel,/ [...] emptied of [...] folk, [on a] pious morn" also add to the beauty of the piece and help readers to envision Keats' urn, whose glory [w]hen old age shall [his] generation waste,/ [...] shalt remain".
ReplyDeleteRebecca Pittel