Why is ode to a nightingale a romantic poem

The narrator describes a world of potential, and empathizes with the creatures of that world. He is soon called to the sounds of insects just as he heard the nightingale before. This is then replaced by a new sound: The narrator has blinded himself to better connect to the nightingale.

The world is no longer present in the poem, as the imagination has taken over. What separates life and death, self and nothingness, are removed: Now more than ever seems it rich to die, To cease upon the midnight with no pain, While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad In such an ecstasy! Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain— To thy high requiem become a sod. Death serves as a muse within the poem. It is, to the narrator, soft and comes upon the narrator as he composes the poem.

He seeks death, wants to die, and wants to be with the nightingale because he experienced the height of life and nothing else would be worth experiencing. To live after that point would be a living death to the narrator. He desires to be like the nightingale, able to constantly give himself up in song and transcend life and death. However, he soon realizes that he will always be different from the bird: Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!

No hungry generations tread thee down; The voice I hear this passing night was heard In ancient days by emperor and clown: lines 61— The world of imagination is not a place that a man could ever live in. The narrator cannot have the imaginary land. He is not just separate from the bird, but from poetry and imagination in general.

The narrator mourns in the final lines of the poem as he realizes that he has been abandoned by his art: Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep? The nightingale is also the object of empathy and praise within the poem. However, the nightingale and the discussion of the nightingale is not simply about the bird or the song, but about human experience in general. This is not to say that the song is a simple metaphor, but it is a complex image that is formed through the interaction of the conflict voices of praise and questioning.

Furthermore, in creating any aspect of the nightingale immortal during the poem the narrator separates any union that he can have with the nightingale. As such, the nightingale would represent an enchanting presence and, unlike the urn, is directly connected to nature. As natural music, the song is for beauty and lacks a message of truth. The narrator seeks to be with the nightingale and abandons his sense of vision in order to embrace the sound in an attempt to share in the darkness with the bird.

As the poem ends, the trance caused by the nightingale is broken and the narrator is left wondering if it was a real vision or just a dream. The dream image emphasizes the shadowiness and elusiveness of the poem.

These elements make it impossible for there to be a complete self identification with the nightingale, but it also allows for self-awareness to permeate throughout the poem, albeit in an altered state. Midway through the poem, there is a split between the two actions of the poem: the first attempts to identify with the nightingale and its song, and the second discusses the convergence of the past with the future while experiencing the present.

Keats has used several marvelous pictorial phrases, which condense the essence of an image. For example The touch of supernatural; the mystery and its suggestiveness adds medievalism which is a romantic trend. The charm'd magic casements, ' story of Ruth ' are two beautiful examples. Again his love for classical Greek literature is reflected in the reference of Lethe, Dryad, Flora, Bacchus, Hippocrene etc.

Ardhendu De. Post a Comment Drop any query, suggestion or comment here. Popular posts from this blog Dr. February 04, E ighteenth-century writer Samuel Johnson is one of the most significant figures in English literature.

His fame is due in part to a widely read biography of him, written by his friend James Boswell and published in Although probably best known for compiling his celebrated dictionary, Johnson was an extremely prolific writer who worked in a variety of fields and forms.

Chief Critical Approaches of Dr. Johnson are: Johnson tried teaching and later organized a school in Lichfield. His educational ventures were not successful, however, although one of his students, David Garrick, later famous as an actor, became a lifelong friend. Read more. April 03, He argues that a carpenter can make no more than an imitation of the reality, and the bed he makes is once removed from the truth. Read More Drama It is an imitation of imitation.

In like manner the poet too creates only a copy of a copy,. June 21, Gitanjali NO. How do all of those concepts relate to Romanticism? Freudian terms can definitely be related to many of John Keats" poems. In "Ode to a Nightingale" he also mentions in stanza 2 "that I might drink, and leave the world unseen and with thee fade away into the forest dim" Keats Freudian terms, as you can tell, have been merged into Romanticism. It is most often associated with the literary movement arising in France during the nineteenth century; primarily, it is a reaction against Romanticism's idealism ad subjectivity.

In Realist literature, readers begin to witness dull, unimaginative and unremarkable characters like Charles, instead of heroes and mythological figures once seen from the Romanticism. Realism can be considered as a reaction against Romanticism. According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Romanticism can be defined as, "a movement in the arts and literature which originated in the late eighteenth century One of the more popular war poets is Wilfred Owen , who began his career as a poet sometime before the War, and whose earlier style of writing, observed in poems like 'Sonnet Written At Teigmouth, On A Pilgrimage To Keats's House' was derived from that the Romantic ideology, which stated that poetry 'should be personal to the point of appearing confessional , sincere which meant limitations on satire and humor and richly loaded with imagery' Purkis This is obviously due to the influence of Romanticism on a pre-war' Owen.

Poets suc It is most often associated with the literary movement arising in France during the nineteenth century; primarily, it is a reaction against Romanticism"s idealism and subjectivity.