Poetry Analysis of John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale

Running Head : POETRY ANALYSIS
Poetry Analysis
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1POETRY ANALYSIS
Topic – Poetry Analysis of John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale
John Keats’ poem “ Ode to a Nightingale “ is one of the most popular odes in the
English Literature. The poem is known for revealing the topmost imaginative power of the poet.
It has been assumed by the scholars and the readers too that the poet has been inspired by the
song of a nightingale heard in the gardens( Dibble ). The song of the nightingale drove the poet
in rapture and in the state of transcendence, he composed the poem. The purpose of the essay is
to analyze the poem briefly focusing on the themes, the situation, symbols, the literary devices
used in the poem and its subject matter.
The man theme of the poem is the negative capability and its power to support the
speaker in the transcendence of grief. The negative capability is a terms that is coined by John
Keats himself. It demonstrates the idea of how a poet can easily negate his/her feelings and write
completely from the perspective of the subject. The subthemes in the poem are the version of
reality, happiness, mortality, transience and man and natural world.
The setting of the poem is probably the garden of the Spaniards Inn, Hampstead,
London. The poem depicts the situation he was in when his brother Tom died. With a heart full
of sorrow, he composed the poem which is a clear record of his dejection and pessimism. The
beginning lines of the poem “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains/ My sense, as
though of hemlock I had drunk “strongly depict the emotional status of the poet( Keats ) . The
song of the Nightingale dives deep into the heart of the poet and pulls a cover of “dizzy
numbness “over the night. The setting is the symbol of tragedy in human life and the pessimism
too. It symbolizes the regrets, the sorrow, gloom, darkness and shattered hopes in every human
life.