Monday, March 9, 2015

Ode to a Nightingale - Poem - XI - Elective English

Poem - Ode to a Nightingale -XI Elective Poetry

Summary

The poem Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats begins as the speaker starts to feel disoriented from listening to the song of the nightingale, as if he had just drunk something very strong. He feels bitter sweet happiness at the thought of the nightingale's carefree life.

The speaker wishes he had a special wine distilled directly from the earth. He wants to drink such a wine and fade into the forest with the nightingale. He wants to escape the worries and concerns of life, age, and time.

He uses poetry to join the nightingale's nighttime world, deep in the dark forest where hardly any moonlight can reach. He can't see any of the flowers or plants around him, but he can smell them. He thinks it wouldn't be so bad to die at night in the forest, with no one around except the nightingale singing.

But the nightingale can't die. The nightingale must be immortal, because so many different kinds of generations of people have heard its song throughout history, everyone from clowns and emperors to Biblical characters to people in fantasy stories.

The speaker's vision is interrupted when the nightingale flies away and leaves him alone. He feels abandoned and disappointed that his imagination is not strong enough to create its own reality. He is left confused and bewildered, not knowing the difference between reality and dreams.

Q. How does the nightingale's song plunge the poet into a state of ecstasy?
Answer:
Keats composed this poem when he was sitting under a plum tree in the garden of his house in Hampstead. The nightingale's song inspired him to write and he completed the poem within a day. The opening lines of the poem are sad and melancholic. he disparagingly expresses that his "heart aches" giving him a feeling as if he is poisoned or drugged. But he further explains that his present state of numbness

When Keats was sitting under a plum tree in the garden of his house, in Hampstead, he composed this poem. He was inspired by Nightingale's song and completed the poem within one day. The poet begins the poem in a melancholic mood and disparagingly expresses how his “heart aches” as if he is poisoned or is drugged. He felt as if he drank Lethe's water and was drowsy. Then it is revealed that actually it is the nearby bird, the Nightingale's song which is the reason of the poet's happiness. The poet addresses the Nightingale that he is happy in the bird's happiness.