Ode to a Nightingale

Summary

The speaker opens with a declaration of his own heartache. He feels numb, as though he had
taken a drug only a moment ago. He is addressing a nightingale he hears singing somewhere
in the forest and says that his “drowsy numbness” is not from envy of the nightingale’s
happiness, but rather from sharing it too completely; he is “too happy” that the nightingale
sings the music of summer from amid some unseen plot of green trees and shadows.

In the second stanza, the speaker longs for the oblivion of alcohol, expressing his wish for
wine, “a draught of vintage,” that would taste like the country and like peasant dances, and let
him “leave the world unseen” and disappear into the dim forest with the nightingale. In the
third stanza, he explains his desire to fade away, saying he would like to forget the troubles the
nightingale has never known: “the weariness, the fever, and the fret” of human life, with its
consciousness that everything is mortal and nothing lasts. Youth “grows pale, and spectre-thin,
and dies,” and “beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes.”

In the fourth stanza, the speaker tells the nightingale to fly away, and he will follow, not through
alcohol (“Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards”), but through poetry, which will give him
“viewless wings.” He says he is already with the nightingale and describes the forest glade,
where even the moonlight is hidden by the trees, except the light that breaks through when the
breezes blow the branches. In the fifth stanza, the speaker says that he cannot see the flowers
in the glade, but can guess them “in embalmed darkness”: white hawthorn, eglantine, violets,
and the musk-rose, “the murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.”

In the sixth stanza, the speaker listens in the dark to the nightingale, saying that he has often
been “half in love” with the idea of dying and called Death soft names in many rhymes.
Surrounded by the nightingale’s song, the speaker thinks that the idea of death seems richer
than ever, and he longs to “cease upon the midnight with no pain” while the nightingale pours
its soul ecstatically forth. If he were to die, the nightingale would continue to sing, he says, but
he would “have ears in vain” and be no longer able to hear.

In the seventh stanza, the speaker tells the nightingale that it is immortal, that it was not “born
for death.” He says that the voice he hears singing has always been heard, by ancient emperors
and clowns, by homesick Ruth; he even says the song has often charmed open magic windows
looking out over “the foam / Of perilous seas, in fairy lands forlorn.”
In the eighth stanza, the word forlorn tolls like a bell to restore the speaker from his
preoccupation with the nightingale and back into himself. As the nightingale flies farther away
from him, he laments that his imagination has failed him and says that he can no longer recall
whether the nightingale’s music was “a vision, or a waking dream.” Now that the music is
gone, the speaker cannot recall whether he himself is awake or asleep.
 Annotations of Stanza- 1

My heart aches: my heart feels pain

Drowsy numbness: sleepy insensibility
My heart aches......in thy happiness: The poet’s heart experiences a sensation of pain. His body
is benumbed and paralysed. He is in a state of complete insensibility. It is as if he had drunk a
benumbing poison namely hemlock, or only a moment ago he had drunk every drop of a drug
namely opium whose effect is to benumb the senses and blunt the feelings. He feels like one
who has drunk the water of the River of Forgetfulness namely Lethe and become completely
indifferent to his surroundings. This mood has not been brought upon him by any feeling of
jealousy of the nightingale’s song. On the contrary, he has felt excessively happy because of
the nightingale’s happiness. His numbness, drowsy pain and feeling of forgetfulness are the
result of his spiritual ecstasy in the bird’s joy.

Light-winged: capable of flying without much effort.

Light-winged Dryad of the trees: According to ancient mythology, there were a number of
inferior deities dwelling in groves, caves, springs, rivers and forests. Of these deities, Naiads
lived in rivers; Oreads lived on hills; and Dryads lived in trees or forests. Here the nightingale
is called the Dryad of the trees because it lives among trees.
Melodious plot of beechen green: a piece of grassy land where green beach trees are growing
and which is full of the nightingale’s melodious song.
Singest of summer in full-throated ease: The bird seems to be singing of summer which is a
lovely season in England. The bird sings in a loud voice, but it sings effortlessly and
spontaneously.

Annotations of Stanza-2
Draught of vintage: drink of sweet wine
Deep-delved earth: deep under the ground
That hath been cooled.....earth: Keats would like to drink some wine which has been kept to mature and
to cool deep under the ground. ( Wine improves by age if kept in cool cellars )
Flora: goddess of the flowers and spring.
Provencal: Provence is the name of a region in southern France. It is famous not only for its wine but
also for its love of song and dance.
Sun-burnt mirth: the mirth or merry-making of those people whose complexion has turned brown on
account of the bright sun-light. This is Transferred Epithet.
O for a draught of ............sun-burnt mirth: Keats here expresses a desire to drink a wine that has been
cooled for a long time deep under the earth. He thinks of a wine that will remind of the flowers which
have been used in making of it. It will also remind him of the green vegetation of the countryside and
of the dancing, music, merry-making, feasting of the sun-burnt peasants of Provence which is known
for its fun, jollity and wine. In short, he wants to have a wine brewed in Provence.
Hippocrene: the name of the fountain of Muses. It was struck by the hoof of the winged horse Pegasus,
out of Mount Helicon where the Muses lived. Here Keats imagines that this spring or fountain be
running with wine instead of water.
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene: Keats longs for a cup of the genuine and richly coloured wine
that flows from the fountain of the Muses on Mount Helicon.

Waking at the brim: the bubbles of wine sparkling at the top.

Purple-stained mouth: mouth which has become red because red-coloured wine has been flowing into
it.
 Annotations of Stanza-3
Fade far away: The poet wishes to fade into the forest of nightingale.
Dissolve: The poet wishes to melt away in the deep rapture of the bird's song.
Thou among leaves: you in the forest
What thou .....never known: The pain and suffering of the world is quite unknown to the
nightingale
The weariness....fret: The weight of worries, cares and responsibilities which a human being is
bound to experience in this world.
Here where men.....groan: Here in this world men sit and share with each other pains and
miseries.
Palsy: paralysis
Where palsy....gray hairs: In this life paralysis, the forerunner of death, shakes the last surviving
gray hairs of old age.
Spectre-thin: so thin and frail that a man, losing youthful vigour, becomes like invisible ghost.
Where but.....sorrow: Where human thought is preoccupied with nothing but sorrows.
Leaden-eyed despair: The mood of despair makes the eyes look dull like lead, a metal. Or,
despair makes the eyes so drooping that the heavy metal lead seems to be hung on the eye-lids.
Where Beauty.....eyes: In life the beautiful women can't retain the lustre of brightness of their
eyes.
Or new Love....tomorrow: There is hardly any constancy in love. Today's love is replaced by
another love of tomorrow.

Annotations of Stanza-4
Away Away: The poet wishes to go far away from the oppressing reality.
Bacchus and his pads: Bacchus, the classical god of wine, whose chariot is drawn by leopards.
Not charioted.....pards: The poet decides to escape not carried in Bacchus's chariot which is
drawn by leopards. The poet means to say that he will not escape into the forest by drinking
wine as he had first desired.
Poesy: Poetry ie poetic imagination.
But on ......Poesy: He will escape into the forest being carried on the wings of poetic
imagination.
Dull brain: Weakness of mind. Or, the dull rationality that prevails in the mind.
Though the dull.....retards: Although his imaginative flight is hindered and
hampered("perplexes") by the weakness and rational state of mind.
Already with thee: The poet is already in the bird's world.
Haply : Literally, probably/ by chance. But here Keats has used it as "happily"
Cluster'd around: Surrounded by.
Starry Fays: Stars as they are fairies.
Save: Except.
But here......mossy ways: But there is no light in the forest except that which is brought from
above by the winds and which finds its way with difficulty through the thick leaves and
branches of trees overgrown with mosses.
 Annotations of Stanza-5

I cannot....feet: Due to darkness in the bird's forest the poet is unable to see the flowers which
are probably lying at his feet.
Incense: Sweet or fragrant blossoms.
Not what.....boughs: Nor can the poet see the tender and sweet-smelling blossoms that grow on
the branches of trees.
Embalmed darkness: The darkness has been sweetened by the sweet blossoms and flowers.
Seasonable month: the month of May.
Endows: Embellishes/ decorates. Or gifts(verb)
Thicket: A kind of shrubs or copses.
Fruit tree wild: Fruit tree of the forest.
White hawthorn: A kind of bush that carries white blossoms.
Pastoral: Of the forest/ wild.
Eglantine: a kind of wild rose.
Mid-May's eldest child: The first flower of this season/ the first flower of the middle of May.
Full of dewy wine: The musk-rose full of a sweet juice.
Haunt(Noun): a spot or place which is frequently visited.
The murmurous......eves: On Summer evenings, murmuring flies will crowd in large numbers
over musk-roses ( which are full of a sweet juice). The musk-roses will be the favourite
gathering places for the murmuring flies.

Annotations of Stanza-6
Darkling: In the darkness.
For many a time: On many occasions in the past.
Easeful Death: Death that would soothe the poet and end his troubles.
Call'd him: Called death.
Soft names: (addresses him) fondly or in many tender names.
Mused rhyme: Well-thought out verse lines.
For many a time......mused rhyme: On many occasions in the past the poet has been fond with
death which puts an end to all the troubles of man.
Call'd.....quiet breath: The poet has addressed death in many a tender name in many of his well-
thought out verse lines and as though he has appealed to death to put a stop to his breathing.

Now more than ever seems it rich to die: At this particular moment, death seems to be more
attractive than it has ever seemed before.
To cease: To die.
Thou art: You are.
Pouring forth: Singing profusely.
Pouring forth.....ecstasy: Singing profusely from the innermost depth of heart in an extremely
rapturous manner.

Still wouldst thou sing: Even after the poet's death the nightingale will continue to sing.
And I have ears in vain: Then the poet will no more be able to hear the song.
Requiem: Funeral song(dirge)
To the high requiem: The nightingale's happy melody will be converted to a sad funeral song,
because the song will be sung at the poet's death.
Become a sod: Then, after death the poet will lie like a lump/piece of earth('sod').

Annotations of Stanza-7
Thou wast not born for death: The bird is not destined to die.
( Here is a sharp contrast between the mortality of man's life and the immortality of what the
poet imagines to be the ideal)
No hungry generations.....down: The history of human civilization is tossed with war and
blood-shed. Human beings and nations destroy one another as if they are hungry for one
another's blood. But in the world of the nightingales there is no war or conquest.
Or, human beings destroy one another but can never destroy the nightingale, for it is immortal.
This passing night: Towards the end of the night.
( from 'midnight' it's now 'passing night')

By emperor or clown: The rich and poor.

Ruth: A biblical allusion. Ruth was a Moabite married to a Jew in Moab. After her husband's
death she migrated to the alien land Judah in Palestine in order to share her mother-in-law's
troubles. There she gleaned corn in the fields of a kinsman.
Perhaps the self-same song.......corn: Perhaps the song which the poet is listening to this night
is the same which was heard by Ruth when, feeling depressed, home-sick and broken-hearted,
she stood weeping in a corn-field, far, far away from her native home.
(The idea is that the voice or melody of the nightingale has not changed since the time when
melancholy Ruth heard it centuries ago)

The same: The same song.

The same......magic casements: Perhaps this is the same song which cast its delightful and
bewitching effect upon the windows of a castle that stood on the sea-shore.
Opening on the foam: (The casements are) opening to the foamy waves.
Perilous seas: Seething, surging sea.
Forlorn: Alone.
Magic casements......forlorn: Here we have to imagine a far-off, lonely, enchanted land of
mystery and beauty. In this land is situated a castle or a palace on the shore of a stormy,
dangerous ocean. The waves on the ocean are foam-covered and they are rising and falling
against one another.
Probably, as we read from medieval romances, in this castle there is a princess who has been
captivated by a magician and who with a sad heart might have listened to the the nightingale's
song alleviate her sadness of captivity and loneliness.

Annotations of Stanza-8
The very word: The very word "forlorn".
My sole self: The poet's forlorn self. He is lonely in this world.
To toll me back: To call back(from the fanciful world to reality).
Forlorn.......sole self: The use of the word "forlorn" comes like a shock to the poet. The sound
of this word is like the sound of a bell which breaks the spell and brings him back from the
company of the nightingale to his lonely self.
Adieu: Farewell.
Fancy: Imagination.
As she is fam'd to do: As fancy or imagination is famous to cheat with an illusion.
Elf: Fairy
Deceiving elf: Fancy is like a fairy who creates illusion and thereby keeps human brain away
from reality.
Adieu.......elf: The poet having realized the unreality of imagination bids farewell to his
imaginative flight. The imagination can no more create durable illusion as it is supposed to
create. The poetic imagination is just like a deceptive fairy whom we take to be real but who
turns out to be unreal.

Plaintive: Mournful.
Anthem: Song.
Valley-glades: Open spaces of the valley.

Adieu......valley-glades: The poet bids farewell to the song as it becoming more and more
distant. It seems to him that the song is now reaching him from the fields nearby. The next
moment, the song seems to be coming from near the silent stream. Finally, it seems to be
completely lost among the open spaces of the valley.

Vision: Imagination/ Fanciful flight.

Was it......wake or sleep: The song is now no longer audible. The poet, therefore, wonders
whether it was an actual song or he was merely seeing a vision. The music is now no more.
The poet asks whether he was really awake or he was merely dreaming in his sleep.