Lines 41-60, Keats' Ode to a Nightingale
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,11
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,10
But, in embalmèd darkness, guess each sweet10
Wherewith the seasonable month endows10
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;10
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;11
Fast-fading violets covered up in leaves;10
And mid-May's eldest child7
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,10
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.11
Ode to a Nightingale is melancholy and wistful but this stanza, one of my favorites, shows hope in the the beauty of his surroundings. Even though his vision is blinded by the darkness. And the flowers which seem to just be a list of favorites have hidden meanings which link them to the rest of the poem.
It's also very pleasing to recite, try whispering it to yourself (the whole poem, or listen to it). I love how Keats' rhymes are subtle, at first maybe you only notice two or four but then you go back and see each of his lines have a counter-word that rhymes, at least until you reach this next stanza:
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| The Enchanted Garden, by John William Waterhouse |
It's also very pleasing to recite, try whispering it to yourself (the whole poem, or listen to it). I love how Keats' rhymes are subtle, at first maybe you only notice two or four but then you go back and see each of his lines have a counter-word that rhymes, at least until you reach this next stanza:
Darkling I listen; and for many a time11
I have been half in love with easeful Death,10
Called him soft names in many a musèd rhyme,11
To take into the air my quiet breath;10
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,10
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,10
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad10
In such an ecstasy!6
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain -10
To thy high requiem become a sod.10
Why do you think he had the word ecstasy stand alone? What are your impressions of the poem?
Comments
"To cease upon the midnight with no pain while thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad in such an ecstasy"
--poet imagines dying right now while the nightingale sings with such happiness
"still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain- to thy high requiem become a sod"
--But the nightingale would keep singing and his ears wouldn't register the music since he's dead and the song would become a memorial as he goes back to earth/the ground.
All of this is to say, I love this post and one's like it. Tackling bits of poetry at a time, thinking about what lines mean... it's nice. I'm much more of a fiction & prose kind of person, so poetics and theoretical analyses leaves me stumped. But I still like to think about it at times.