Research Paper on:
Analysis of 'Ode to a Nightingale' by John Keats

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with the vast majority of Romantic poetry, Keats "Ode to a Nightingale" is actually more concerned with the poet and his perceptions of the nightingale. In other words, the  poem is about Keats and how the effect that the song of the nightingale has on him. In this work, Keats describes how the birds song inspires him both  philosophically and creatively. It is a lyric meditation that concerns itself just as much with the poets inner turmoil as it does with the nightingales musicality. Keats wishes to  escape from the world of human suffering for an idealized world of art. An examination of this poem demonstrates how the experience of appreciating the beauty of the nightingales song  becomes a sublime experience for the poet, inspiring him to new heights of understanding regarding the creative process. The poem begins with Keats expressing how the nightingales song has  made his heart ache and produced a numbness that resembles having been drugged, either by hemlock or an opiate. While this is not a pleasant image, he insists that this  effect is not because he envies the "happy lot" of the nightingale, but rather because he shares is "too happy in thine happiness" (line 6). In other words, Keats is  intoxicated on the sound of the bird, the "light-winged Dryad of the trees" (line 7). Nevertheless, it is clear that his mental state is depressive. In this manner, Keats  contrasts the listless, negative mental state of the poet against the joyful sound of the nightingale. In the second verse, Keats images that a draught of wine, "Tasting of  Flora and the country green" (line 13) will help him to "leave the world unseen/ And with thee fade away into the forest dim" (lines 19-20). The poet wants