1. Ode to a Nightingale by John Keat
Annie G.
Aaron B.
Melizza W.

2. Life
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Born October 31, 1795
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Father died when he was 8; Mother died of Tuberculosis when he was 14
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Richard Abbey and John Rowland Sandell legal guardians appointed by his maternal
grandmother
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Apprenticed with an apothecary surgeon when he was 15 in London
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Decided to become a poet in 1816
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1817 took care of his brother Tom until his death from tuberculosis in 1818
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Ode to a Nightingale written in 1819
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Met and fell in love with Fanny Brawne (16) a few months later
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Contracted Tuberculosis and had a feeling that he was going to die soon
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Instructed by doctor to go to Italy to be in a warm winter, leaving Fanny behind
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Treated with opium and bleeding
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Died soon after on February 23, 1821 at the age of 25
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3. Imagery- Image and Abstraction
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Image: “Here, where men sit and hear each other groan; Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last
gray hairs, Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;”
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Image: “Called him soft names in many amused rhyme, To take into the air my quiet breath;”
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Abstraction: “This not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thy happiness,---”
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Abstraction: “Where but to think is to be full of sorrow And laden-eyes despairs; Where
beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, Or new love oune at them beyond tomorrow.”

4. Imagery- Symbolism
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Sense of desire
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Positive sounding beauty and conflict
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Combines image and abstraction to illustrate
emotions and experience

5. Imagery- Romantic Themes
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Supernatural
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Mythological references
Beauty
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–
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“the grass, the thicket, and the fruit tree wild, White hawthorn and
the pastoral eglantine; Fast fading violets covered up in
leaves;”
“Past near meadows, over the still stream, Up the hill-side; and
now 'tis buried deep”
Sublime
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“Charmed magic casements opening on the foam Of perilous
seas, in faery lands forlorn.”

6. Imagery- Romantic Themes
Dryads
Hippocrene
Bacchus

7. Imagery- Romantic Themes

8. Imagery- Romantic Themes

9. Diction
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Repetition of consonants
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Soft “S”: “singest of summer” v. Hard “D”:
“drowsy”, “drunk”, “dull”
“The weariness, the fever, and the fret”:
fricative “F” gives feeling of anxiousness

10. Diction
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Contrasting Language
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Anxiousness of “fever, and the fret” v. the word
usage of “Tender” in the next stanza
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Specific words "tender, soft, incense, quiet,
rich, sweet, peaceful" - what he wishes for…
the better alternative to life. Uses words
such as "sad, sick, faded, pale, aches,
groan" during the tone changes where he is
feeling depressed and hopeless.

12. Diction
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Musical References
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“Nightingale” references
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“Requiem”, “song”, and “anthem”
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“Requiem” connects the bird to passed on
souls
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Use of “Nightingale” symbolizes freedom of
worldly pain and the connection of nature

14. Tone
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Tonal Shifts
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“
“Away! Away! For I will fly to thee, Not charioted by Bacchus and his
Pards, but on the viewless wings of Poesy...”
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“
“But here there is no light...”
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“
“Thou was not born for death Immortal Bird!...”
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“
“Forlorn!...”
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Help to emphasize the tug of war speaker feels about life and death

15. Tone
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Reinforces the theme that death is a better alternative to life by
making it seem magical and mythical.
Realizes what he is saying in the end and is confused by it
himself that he doesn't know whether he was awake or asleep
when he was thinking about it.
Depressed about his brother dying so he toys with the idea of
wanting to die himself to free himself from this nasty world.

16. Tone
Tone emphasizes idea of nature as
transformative; the way nature is portrayed as
dark yet mystical reinforces the tug of war the
speaker feels about life and death.