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Essay / Literary Analysis of the Poems of John Keats
Keats's preoccupation with the inevitable precession of time and mutability is evident in the three poems: "Ode to a Nightingale", the ode "To the Autumn" and the sonnet “Bright Star”. , Would I have been as steadfast as You are. In his “Ode to a Nightingale”, the song of the bird becomes for Keats the symbol of a place impervious to human despair and constant in its same eternal song; he wishes to escape it before understanding that it would throw him into a state of non-existence, through which he retracts. Similarly, in his sonnet "Bright Star, Should I have been as Steadfast as Thou Art", Keats realizes that his worship of an ideal world would deny the happiness he experiences, leading him to reject his former aspirations . "To Autumn", however, is an unqualified celebration of nature and change, which suggests the ultimate maturation of Keats's thinking, whereby he ceases to desire the impossible, instead replacing his thinking with recognition and acceptance that nature will continue to proceed, despite the fact that he will not be there to witness the flow of time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get Original Essay “Ode to a Nightingale” begins with soporific heaviness, an intense description of “sleepy numbness” and “ [pain]” which impinges on this state despite its oxymoronic nature. This characterizes why Keats wishes to "disappear into the darkness of the forest" with the Nightingale, whose "summer song in full-throated ease" begins to represent another world for Keats, a world where the despair of humanity is present. unknown, where “weariness, fever and stage fright” cease to exist. With richly explicit language of dissatisfaction, Keats exudes a morose mood, which reinforces his aching desire for "a beaker filled with the warmth of the South", for "Provençal Dance and Song". The South constitutes a geographical emblem of refuge from the harsh realities of winter, and French Provence is generally associated with luxury and the pleasure of living. Keats yearns for a “homemade potion,” not to fall into a drunken state, but as another door of escape, through which he might be delivered into the world that the Nightingale occupies. Yet, in the fourth stanza, Keats rejects "Bacchus and his pards", and thus rejects wine in favor of the "invisible wings of poetry". He recognizes that "the dull brain perplexes and delays", that analytical thinking distorts what might otherwise be purely felt, but he therefore reaffirms his own personal will and strength to achieve this state of transcendence on his own terms, through “Poetry” which represents poetry and imagination. However, once his imagination takes him there, he realizes that "there is no light here", foreshadowing his return to the light, as darkness is perhaps seductive and “easy”, but it is also a negation of existence, and therefore, of feeling. Keats states that the darkness is “embalmed,” which has two meanings: perfume and preserved corpse. Therein lies the irony, because while darkness may be pleasantly presented, it is essentially an entrapment in itself. The counter-movement in Keats's sensibility occurs, where he realizes that the Nightingale's "great requiem" will be in vain if he is to die, and thus become a "fool." The poet thus comes to the conclusion that the non-existence and therefore the inability to feel the ecstasy of the bird is counterproductive. The reverie is abandoned when the Nightingale flies away, leaving the poet with an inconclusive conclusion, the question marks reinforcing that the poem's ending is doubtful and unresolved. The sonnet “Star.