Keats Using ‘Ode on Melancholy’ and one other, examine how
Keats uses language to explore his muses
In ‘Ode on Melancholy’ Keats accepts the truth he sees: joy and pain are
inseparable and to experience joy fully we must experience sadness or melancholy
fully. The first stanza urges us not to try and escape pain; stanza two tells us what to do
instead - embrace the transient beauty and joy of the nature and human experience,
which contain pain and death. Stanza three makes clear that in order to experience joy
we must experience the sorrow that beauty dies and joy evaporates. The more
intensely we feel happiness, the more subject we are to melancholy.
The poet's passionate outcry not to reject melancholy is presented negatively – “no,”
“not,” “neither,” “nor.” The degree of pain that melancholy may cause is implied by
the ways to avoid it, for example “go to Lethe” and “suffer thy pale forehead to be
kissed by nightshade…” The first two words, “No, no,” are both accented, emphasising
them; their forcefulness expresses convincingly the speaker’s passionate state. In the
first stanza, the language used presents “the wakeful anguish of the soul”. Keats
speaks of “yew-berries” which are generally associated with mourning; the mood of
the stanza is joyless which mirrors the subject it speaks of. However, Keats describes
the “anguish” as “wakeful” because the sufferer still feels and so still has the capacity
to feel happiness.
The language used in ‘Ode on Melancholy’ is highly appropriate – the
clouds are “weeping”. Much of the effectiveness of this poem derives from the
concrete imagery.
Throughout the poem, Keats yokes elements, which are ordinarily regarded as
incompatible or as opposites. These weeping clouds (a negative image) “foster” flowers.
This idea calls up positive images, yet the flowers are “droop-headed” which has a
double application. The flowers could have literally wilted due to the rain, or Keats could
be referring to an action that connotes grief. Similarly, the rain temporarily hides the hill
yet the hill is still “green” which represents fertility, lushness and beauty, and it retains
these qualities whether we can see them at that particular moment or not. The rain,
which cuts visibility, is called a “shroud,” a death reference, but the month is April, a
time when nature renews itself and comes alive after winter's barrenness and
harshness. These contrasting images represent Keats’ muse – melancholy. The language
used denotes both joy and sadness and this reinforces the idea that an occasional
melancholic state is necessary for the effects of happiness to be recognised and
appreciated. Keats advises us to “glut” sorrow, meaning to gorge or to experience to the
fullest.
Similarly, in ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ a major concern is Keats’ perception of the
conflicted nature of human life. The poet falls into a reverie whilst listening to the
nightingale sing whereby he feels joy and pain. In the beginning the bird is presented as
a real bird, but as the poem progresses, the bird becomes a symbol of pure joy, the
ideal and the beauty of nature.
Wanting to escape from the joy-pain reality, the poet begins to move into a world of
imagination and fantasy. He calls for wine, “O, for a draught of vintage!” yet his purpose
is clearly not to get drunk. Rather he associates wine with some quality or state he is
seeking. The image of the “beaded bubbles winking at the brim” is much admired. This
image of the bubbles is concrete yet the preceding imagery such as “sunburnt mirth” is
abstract. The pleasure is tainted.
As a romantic poet, Keats mirrors beauty with nature. However, the human
imagery of wealth (her anger is “rich”) and eating intently (“feed deep”) tie the divisions
of the two worlds together. The eating imagery suggests that melancholy is
incorporated into, becomes part of and nourishes the individual. “Aching pleasure” is an
oxymoron, characteristic of Keats. It implies that pleasure is painful, the nectar turns ”to
poison while the bee-mouth sips:” Keats explains that melancholy is “Veil'd” because it
is hidden from us during pleasure, which is generally what we are aware of and are
absorbed in. The sensitivity to life of those that live melancholy in delight is of the
highest quality, “palate fine.” They live intensely and vigorously; the language used
reflects their exuberance and power, “strenuous” and “burst.”
These two worlds are also joined together in ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ as the poet
contrasts the bird’s singing and immunity from death and suffering with human beings,
“hungry generations.” Keats jumps between ‘the real world’ and fantasy. He contrasts
his fantastical experience to the “dull brain” that “perplexes and retards”. Keats prefers
the world of fantasy inspired by the nightingale’s song and wishes to “Fade far away,
dissolve, and quite forget…” The language seems almost dreamlike. Keats yearns to die
a state, which he imagines as only joyful and pain-free in order to merge with the
nightingale’s song. The song is characterised as wholly blissful – “full throated ease”.
However, even in this refuge, death is present in “embalmed darkness”. Both
‘Ode on Melancholy’ and ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ include imagery of death and darkness –
“Lethe”, “hemlock”, “wolfs-bane” and “drowsy numbness”. However, the poet is so
pragmatic about the ideas of death and sadness that he is able to link them with fantasy
so the outcome is no longer feared. Yet, Keats begins to distance himself from the
nightingale calling the bird a “deceiving elf”. Keats becomes aware that it’s “beauty
cannot keep her lustrous eyes”, the bird is not “immortal”. He questions himself; “Do I
wake or sleep?” The nightingale causes the poet to muse on life and death and once
again, on joy and sadness. The “charm'd magic casements” of fairy are “forlorn” and the
seas are “perilous.” “Forlorn” and “perilous” would not ordinarily be associated with
magic/enchantment. These words hint at the pain the poet recognised in the beginning
of the poem and is trying to escape. The concept that in order to feel joy, we must also
withstand pain is presented. Keats seems to recognise – through the bird’s song – that
feelings of joy are not everlasting; dying in the birds song would make him unable to
hear it anymore and therefore feel anguish.
In the end of ‘Ode on Melancholy’, we see the reward of the “wakeful anguish of
the soul”. The possessor of the wakeful soul “shall taste the sadness of her might”. The
change of tense from present pleasure to future melancholy expresses their relationship
– one is part of and inevitably follows the other. Keats concludes that the wakeful soul
will be the “trophy” gained from melancholy. However, the trophies are described as
“cloudy,” which has negative overtones keeping the muse of the poem constant
throughout. Keats explores his muses using language of both happiness and
despondency. Each of these feelings characterise the poems and therefore the use of
imagery is relevant. The language used enables Keats to convey his emotions and
experiences to the point where the reader can feel them too.