Keat's Odes

Keat’s Odes 

John Keat’s like many other romantic poets of his time, wrote about elements of the human soul.  Pain and beauty seem to be linked within his poems, as well as the transformation of pain into beauty as well.   The romantics believed that to live a fulfilled life, humans must undergo pain and to fully experience and understand happiness.    

Within the five Ode’s given to us, “Ode to a Nightingale”, “Ode to Autumn”,  “Ode on Melancholy”,  “Ode on a Grecian”, “Birds of Passion and Mirth”, we see elements of the romantic era and ones internal and external struggles.  Keats focused on death and the possibility of it throughout many of his works.   He gives plenty of examples from large to minor instances representing the loss of life, like,  the loss of a lover, or the death of nature in Autumn.    

Keats introduced the element of beauty as a distraction of death.  He connects the rational thought that yes, everyone must die inevitability, however, we can either choose to live out life in fear, or reinvent ourselves and embrace beautiful objects.  For example,  in “Ode to a Nightingale,” the speaker experiences great heartbreak and wishes to live like the nightingale  and sing beautiful music. “That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees-In some melodious plot of beechen green, and shadows numberless-Singest of summer in full-throated ease” ( 6-11).  The speaker longs to be like the “immortal” bird and experience happiness, freedom, nature, and beauty.   

In most of Keats works, much like other romantic poets during the Enlightenment, the speaker leaves the realm of the real world for a totally imaginative utopia, only to return to reality at the end of the adventure.  However, the speaker seems to be transformed or changed in his beliefs with a new experience of beauty.  Again, this is very visible in “Ode to a Nightingale, since the speaker speaks of the relation of visions and art.  

To Keats, art and creativity was very important.  He believed that nature and art were very closely related.  He also described the relation between art, nature, and the human soul. For example, in “Ode to Autumn”, the element of “harvesting” can be representative of “self -harvesting”.  The writing tool, also acts as a tool to harvest the thoughts in the brain, and one’s books are filled with details much like “seeds of thought”.  In “The Ode to Melancholy,” the speaker experiences great joy and sorrow, yet, the solution to such sorrows is described in “The Ode to Autumn” when the idea that yes nature is dying now, but, the spring will come again, and the fields will grow and the birds will sing yet again:

“Where are the songs of the Spring? Ay, where are they?  Think not of them, thou hast thy music too-while barred coulds bloom the soft-dying day-And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn-among the river-sallows, borne aloft-or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; and full -gorwn lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; hedge-crickets sing; and now the treble soft-the redbreat whistles from a garden-croft-and gathering swallows twitter in the skies” (23-33).      

Lastly, a major element with the work is the idea of the disappearance of the speaker.  Some, like Keats, believed that it was impossible to understand what the poet was thinking as he wrote the poem and by the end of the work, the speaker focuses on a object obsessively  and as a result, they erase themselves.  “The Ode on a Grecian Urn” is a great example of that.  The description of the urn itself is so intricate , that for centuries, theorists have questioned who in fact is the speaker by the end of the poem:

“...When old age shall this generation waste, thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st, ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,-that is all- Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” ( 47-50)

Keat’s odes may prove to be very complex, overall, they all represent the same theme: embrace nature, life, sorrow, the imagination, music, and pain.  For all of these elements make up the dimensions of the human soul itself: pain is beauty and beauty is pain.  

Assignment#4 THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER

“The Rime if the Ancient Mariner”, written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is filled with symbolism  of the romantic period.  His use of symbolism throughout the poem helps exemplify Western thought during the Enlightenment.  

One of the first and most prominent symbols that we see is the  Albatross.  The plot of the poem feeds off the inclusion of the Albatross.  For example,   The Albatross represents nature and life, which, was being denied during the Romantic period, “At length did cross an Albatross, thorough the fog it came; As it had been a Christian soul we hailed it in God’s name” .  The Albatross sends good vibes by helping them get through the icy world, however, it brings a strange murky fog which follows the ship.  This fog can be connected with the idea the realism continues to lurk over the West during this time, depriving them from the freedoms of life.  The Albatross plays with the sailors and also eats their food which can be symbolic for how deprived people were during this time, “It ate the food it ne’er had eat, and round and round it flew...And every day, for food or play”.  For example, factory workers were given jobs, however, they were making very little to no money so it was almost like a tease to these workers.  Much like in these people’s real lives, even though they had jobs, they often didn’t have enough money to put food on the table.  So even though the Albatross symbolizes nature, which the romantics wished to incorporate into their every day lives, it may only be possible to imagine such a thing, because in reality, just like the fog, reality lurks over them.  

When the Mariner shoots the bird, he automatically feels an overwhelming feeling of guilt, “And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work ‘em woe: For all averred, I had killed the bird”.  Much how one might feel if they cut nature and religion out of their lives.  The bird’s corpse lays around the Mariner’s neck, and only removes itself when he is able to accept nature and faith.  So, even though the Mariner is alive, without the beauty of nature and prayer in one’s life, their soul is “dead”.  

The sailors, who were originally freed by the Albatross being to die slowly after the Mariner kills the bird, which represents nature.  Symbolically, this means that once the sailors refused nature in their lives, their souls slowly began to depreciate, “There passed a weary time.  Each throat was parched, and glazed each eye”.  Many say that “eyes are the windows to the soul” and here, we see the sailors had “glazed” over eyes, yet again symbolizing their loss of soul and life.    

Soon after, The Mariner meets a Hermit, who is a Holy man who prays and practices religion daily.  He lives a simple life , in the woods, yet “loves to talk with Mariners-that come from a far country” which represents his sense of imagination.  The Hermit allows himself to imagine where the Mariners come from, and accepts the use of vivid imagination.  The Hermit forgives the Mariner of his sins, “It is the Hermit good! He singeth loud his godly hymns-that he makes in the wood.  He’ll shrive my soul, he’ll wash away-The Albatross’s blood”.  The Hermit represents a godly figure, who can give reconciliation to the Mariner. 

This is a tall tale, which almost seem fairytale like, which was rejected by many realists during the Enlightenment.  Here, Coleridge tries to tell those of the Enlightenment to trust in nature and religion, because without it one remains lifeless.  He encourages those to use their imaginations, like the wedding guest for example.  The wedding guest claims that he is “afraid of the Mariner”, which represents how those become fearful of the imagination.  However, the Mariner assures him that there is nothing to be afraid of, and to accept this phenomena as a gateway to ones happiness.