"Ode to a Nightingale"

Paper Summary:

This paper gives a stanza-by-stanza analysis of John Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale," written in 1819. It shows how Keats mingles the beauty of the nightingale with the morbidity of death in his poem. It also questions whether Keats actually witnessed the nightingale he wrote about or whether it was a fancy of his imagination.

From the Paper:

"In the fourth stanza, Keats rejects his desire to get drunk as a means of escape. Instead, he turns to "the viewless wings of Poesy." Poetry can remove him from himself faster and better than wine can. He allows the bird song to carry him off: "Away! Away! For I will fly to thee." In so doing, he escapes "the dull brain, which perplexes and retards" and forgets himself long enough to see "the Queen Moon is on her throne/Clustered around by all her starry fays.""

More papers on "Ode to a Nightingale":

• Poem Review # 124078 : "Imagery in "Ode to a Nightingale"
• Analytical Essay # 61162 : "John Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale"
• Comparison Essay # 118881 : "To a Sky-Lark" and "Ode to a Nightingale"

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