Ode to a Nightingale

Ode to a Nightingale

In Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats, the author and narrator, used descript

terminology to express the deep-rooted pain he was suffering during his battle

with tuberculosis. This poem has eight paragraphs or verses of ten lines each

and doesn’t follow any specific rhyme scheme. In the first paragraph, Keats gave

away the mood of the whole poem with his metaphors for his emotional and

physical sufferings, for example: My heart aches, and drowsy numbness pains

My sense (1-2) Keats then went on to explain to the reader that he was speaking

to the “light-winged Dryad” in the poem.

This bird symbolizes a Nightingale that to many, depicts the happiness

and vibrance of life with the way it seems to gracefully hover over brightly

colored flowers to get nectar but, to Keats death, because his was becoming.

“Shadows numberless” at the end of the paragraph signifies the angel of death

and spirits that had surrounded Keats. Keats vividly and beautifully described

wine: … for a beaker full of the warm South… With beaded bubbles winking at

the brim, And purple stained mouth; That I might drink, and leave the he used

to bury his fears and emotions about death.

In verse three, Keats expressed that most people enjoy a full life and die

old, when he pens: Here, men sit and hear each other groan; …last gray hairs,

Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies… (24-26) He felt that youth

was a time in one’s life to enjoy.

According to him, being rich, popular, beautiful, funny and smart didn’t

matter because the angel of death was blind. Keats was afraid of death because

of the loved one’s he had to leave behind. He expresses that with the phrase:

And with thee fade away into the forest dim (20) Keats explained that he had

wanted to wander off into the forest so no one would’ve had to be bothered by

him.

In paragraph four, Keats had spoken to the Nightingale and told it to

go off and leave him alone because he already had known that death was

coming and didn’t want to be reminded of his sad fate. Keats went on to say: I

cannot see what flowers are at my feet, Nor what soft incense hangs upon the

boughs, But, in embalmed darkness… (41-43) This meant he didn’t know what

was about to