Ode To A Nightingale by John Keats

Essay by pushkin5University, Bachelor's February 2004

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Ode to Nightingale Analysis Essay

In the poem, "Ode to a Nightingale," written by John Keats, the speaker attempts to use a nightingale as a means of escaping the realities of human life. Throughout the poem Keats gradually discovers the concepts of creative expression and the morality of human life. The speaker is in search of the freedom that the nightingale so elegantly sings about. The nightingale's song of freedom is an expression of pure joy, which is oblivious to anguish and suffering. It appears in the poem that Keats is tempted into the nightingale's world of beauty and perfection. He is also longing to sooth his soul from his troubles and open up to a world that promises eternal enjoyment. The answer to the poet's problems may lie in living a life similar to that of a nightingale's life. As the poem progresses the speaker explores multiple ways to join the nightingale.

However, he eventually realizes that he must face the reality that fleeing from the human world is not possible. Keats not only writes this poem gracefully, but it reads fluently while using a discrete rhyme scheme. Allusions are the main idea of this poem. The poet uses allusions involving alcohol and other drugs as a main idea throughout the poem.

"Ode to a Nightingale" is written in eight ten-line stanzas and is metrically variable. The eighth line of each stanza is written in iambic trimester, while the first seven lines and last two are written in iambic pentameter. Iambic trimester occurs when there are only three accents in a line of poetry. This poem displays a complex form of end rhyme scheme unique to the poem. Each verse of "Ode to a Nightingale" has a rhyme scheme ABABCDECDE. This rhyme scheme is used throughout...