Ode to A Nightingale

'Ode to A Nightingale' by ---- John Keats

Nightingale

⧭The poem Ode to A Nightingale is an ever memorable creation in the history of English Literature.It was written in May 1819.Once in the spring of 1819,Keats visited to his friend Charles Armitage Brown’s house at Hampstead. One morning he sat under a plum tree and listened to the beautiful song of a Nightingale. After that he composed this ode.’Ode to A Nightingale’ is a successful ode of regular type having all the features of it.In it we find the concept of beauty both in its sensuous and spiritual aspects.Keats uses senses to appreciate its sensuousness.

   ‘’My heart and a drowsy numbness pains

     My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,’’

     Or emptied……….in full-throated ease.’’

                    ⧭The poet John Keats listens to the song of nightingale. He is overwhelmed by its song.His senses are benumbed to produce a happiness in him.He feels elated. His delight in the song of the nightingale is so intense that he feels a sort of pain. In other words, he wants to  mean that our imperfect nature is unable to bear the purity of such song of the nightingale.Actually, he wants to go to the world of nightingale .He tries hard to immerse himself in the happiness of the bird, representing himself imaginatively into the world that the nightingale seems to inhabit.Besides, he wishes to be carried away into this world by taking a draught of vintage, rich with the association of jovial Provencal songs and dances. The wine will remind him about the Roman goddess 'Flora', goddess of flowers.The wine  will enable him to fade away into the dim forest, leaving behind the human world which is overshadowed by death and sorrow.The intensity of joy of this moment makes him feel that it is richest moment to die

                  ⧭ Here the poet has sunk Lethe wards. According to classical mythology,‘’Lethe’’ is the river of forgetfulness. The poet under the refreshing effect of nightingale’s song feels like one has drunk the water of the river of forgetfulness. The poet is in mood of oblivion under charming song of nightingale. The nightingale sings with an exquisite melody. Its songs are free from the tragic aspect of human life. He expresses that the contact with human life infects its song.so he asked it to fade away from the ills and sufferings of human life.

      ‘’O for a beaker full of the warm south,

        Full of the tree,the blushful Hippocrene’’

                  ⧭According to the Geek mythology ‘’Hippocrene ‘’is the name of a fountain created by the winged horse of the Muses on the mount Helicon. The water of Hippocrene was the source of the true poetic inspiration. Keats compares the water of it with red wine.The poet wants to get inspiration by drinking wine as Muses having a sip of Hippocrene water.

In his imagination,the poet wishes to leave the world because the world is full of tragedies. The poet is sick of the world which is full of miseries,fever and fret. .On the other hand the word of nightingale represents utopia of joy and beauty. To share its happiness the poet wants to go there with the help of imagination.To the poet the bird is immortal.It is a symbol of joy and happiness.It has charmed people of all age.This is the theme of the poem which bears out the distinctive features of Keats poems.Moreover Keats'use of hellenism enriches its level.

Hellenism means reference from Greek literature or art.In the poem, keats’approach is full of Greek simplicity and sensuousness.most of the imageries such as’’testing of Flora’’, ’’light winged Dryad’,’ blushful Hippocrene’’and ’’charioted by Bacchus’’ are referred to Greek mythology.

Name of some flowers mentioned in the poem:
White hawthorn, Pastoral eglantine, Fast fading violets, and the Musk rose.Thorny shrubs & wild fruit trees might have their own flowers.