Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The symbol ‘nightingale’ used in reference to the depiction of nightingale bird in the troupe of novellas named Metamorphoses, by Ovid – the Roman Poet. In one of the Ovid’s story, Philomela, a woman, is sexually harassed by her brother-in-law, Tereus. In order to remain clean of any rightful accusation, her sister’s husband cut off her tongue so that she is unable to tell her sister of his monstrous act. Howbeit, Philomela conveys the crime to her sister through embroidery weaving and Procne, her sister, tries to take revenge on behalf of her by serving her son in dinner to her husband. However, upon learning of this vile trick, the husband tries to kill both the sisters, but the Greek Gods come to the sister’s rescue and turn them in birds to fly away. Hence, Procne turns into a swallow and Philomela into a nightingale. The irony of this scenario is that the woman, who lost her voice by losing her tongue, became a creature in possession of the most sensational voice in the whole world. Therefore, Keats desires to escape the ‘bad things’ of the society and the world as a whole, like Philomela, can be seen in this poem. Furthermore, in line 32 in an allusive metaphor, the speaker uses Bacchus – Greek God of alcohol and intoxication to tell that his abscond into the world of the nightingale is not because of drunkenness.
Moreover, this poem uses phrases that illustrate fantasy and travel to escape the nastiness of the world. Keats talks about needing a gateway, which reveals is in form of his mind. Similarly, his imaginative and creative mind permits him to experience the darkness from the eyes and imagination of nightingale, encircled by aromatic and un-illuminated trees. For romantics souls like Keats, another word for imagination id ‘fancy’.  ...Download file to see next pagesRead more