The Poem “Ode to a Nightingale” written by John Keats
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- Introduction
This paper examines the poem “Ode to a Nightingale” written by John Keats in the spring of 1819. This poem is one among the six celebrated odes by Keats. This particular work was chosen because of several reasons. First, I have a great interest in romantic poems and it was thus easy to choose this particular work. Secondly, the poem was chosen because its style is easy, the poem is imaginative and conjures mental images, and it clearly weaves the music of the nightingale into the poem. The poem was also chosen because it is written with an elegant style, is laced with creativity and it is rich in metaphor. It is full of persuasive power as it lucidly brings out the themes that the author wants to address. I also know that Keats wrote several other odes but this particular poem is unique due to distinctive rhyme scheme. Before picking this topic, I knew that the poem has eight stanzas and each stanza has ten lines. The selected source is a webpage written by the University of Adelaide Library (Adelaide University, 2014). This source was chosen because it is administered by an academic institution hence was deemed to be credible and more reliable than other electronic sources such as Wikipedia. The source was also selected because it is written in clear and simple English, which makes it easy to read. Moreover, the source has a credible citation by Cousin (Cousin, 1910 cited in University of Adelaide, 2014a) and its contents were recently updated. Additionally, this source is not a site for helping students write essays and it provides free e-books, which can be freely accessed and downloaded.
- Summary of the Source
The selected source is an academic webpage source administered by The University of Adelaide Library available at http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/keats/john/. This page forms part of the university’s e-book library. The source is divided into different sections. The first section is a biography of Keats. The entire length of this biography is 498 words and talks about the birth, education, and adult life of Keats. It also provides a brief description of a few selected works of Keats. The next section provides links to resources on Keats’ life and his letters to friends and family. A complete list of Keats’ works including his poems is also provided. This list includes epistles and sonnets written by Keats, facsimile editions of the works of Keats, and outside links on the life and works of Keats. The source is succinct yet clear. The source also has quick links to other resources (University of Adelaide, 2014a).
The layout is simple and the text highly legible. However, the page is unattractive as it has no color, graphics, pictures, or other forms of multimedia. As noted before, “Ode to a Nightingale” is a poem that is made up of ten stanzas. Each of the stanzas explores a particular theme. In the first stanza, the poem decries the fleeting nature of human life. In the second stanza, the poem tackles the theme of escapism where he longs to imbibe in alcohol, flee his human body, and join the nightingale. In the third stanza, the poet rejects the idea of fleeing his human body through alcohol and instead talks about indulging in “poesy” as a means of escapism. In the fourth to the seventh stanzas, the poet indulges himself in the music of the nightingale while in the last stanza, he comes to his senses and as the nightingale flies away, he is left in a state of utter somberness (University of Adelaide, 2014b).
- Analysis of the Source
The purpose of the source is information. It provides a biographical sketch of John Keats and lists his works. The source is written and administered by the University of Adelaide Library and its target audience includes students and faculty of the university. It also serves the public. The breadth of the source can be described as shallow. It treats the subject at hand rather casually and provides only a limited amount of data. The biography is unoriginal and lifted entirely from Cousin’s book, “A short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature” (Cousin, 1910 cited in University of Adelaide, 2014a). The biography itself has details and provides a concise statement of the major events in Keats’s life while omitting other important details.
Some of the important details that are left unmentioned include the nature of Keats’s death and the major life events such as the passing on of his parents and his great love for a woman. These events are important because they can help the reader understand the context of his work hence appreciate the work better. The depth of the source is also shallow. Not many details are provided about what is written. There is no analysis whatsoever of the works of Keats. Only a list of the works is given and these link to a page where the particular works are displayed. The style of the source can be described as formal due to its use of conventional language and the nature of its target audience and authors.
- Conclusion / evaluation
The source is useful since it provides an account of Keats’ biography that is referenced to a credible source. The source also provides a complete list of the works of Keats and gives information on how to locate these resources in the library. I learnt that the author, John Keats, is mentioned along with Shakespeare as one of the greatest lyric poets in English ever (Brooklyn University, 2014). In Britain, Keats is held in great reverence and is widely studied and admired. I also learnt that Keats received no formal education in literature. He was trained as a surgeon but excelled in poetry. This training reflected in his style of writing. This informality exposed Keats to the most virulent attacks of literary critics of the day who described his work as over-sentimental, coarse, incongruous, and offensive. Another lesson that was learnt is that Keats redefined the ode, as it is a clear departure from the works of Coleridge, Lord Byron, and Wordsworth –which he viewed as complicated and lacking style, incomprehensible, and boorish. Keats was disruptive due to his non-conformist approach to writing poems. Though relevant to the theme and substance of romanticism, the poem “Ode to a Nightingale” was unconventional in form, style, language, and temper. It was unlike the earlier works of the great romantic poets. Its deviation from the “greatness” of the works by Coleridge, Byron, Wordsworth, and other great poets of the time was the substance of much criticism that Keats was subjected.