Through this revelation, Keats realises he must not escape reality “by Bacchus and his pards” but through poetry and its language. Keats brings a new truth to reality through his imagination. Using his language and senses, Keats paints a new picture of reality, focusing on the unseen beauty of reality. Words such as “embalmed darkness” sets the seen for the imagination while the descriptions such as “musk-rose, full of dewy wine” shows the garden through his senses. Through his imagination he is able to come to a new truth of reality, for even though it is through imagining, it is still reality that supplies the inspiration.
Keats sees reality in a different way. He realises that death would not be as sad if he died – “easeful Death”. He accepts his mortality, and sees that in his “ecstasy” from the poesy that through beauty, the pain of death can be eased – “no pain, while thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad”. This quote also shows the realisation that the nightingale or more exactly, the nightingale’s song is immortal. This is seen in the lack of personification of ‘death’ through capitalisation of the first letter that Keats has done with other references of ‘death’. The nightingale’s immortality is seen further through the capitalisation of the first letter of “Bird” – suggesting that the nightingale is more powerful than death. He also uses the references to history and mythology to emphasise that nightingale’s immortality. “Light-winged Dryad of the trees” emphasises this mysterious quality of the nightingale from the beginning, also giving it a beauty that cannot be found in reality. It is this beauty that has led him on the path to seek truth.
In the last stanza, Keats is highly aware that it is his language that has led him to a truth and reality. The word “Forlorn” has brought his out of his imagination, yet there is the sense that Keats has realised that it is impossible to stay in his state of happiness and that reality is inescapable. This links back to the melancholy of the first stanza where he has already realised the drugged state will not last. Yet he has still reached a truth in his poem, and to keep the truth that will ease the pain of death he must keep the nightingale’s song pure and keep it separate from reality. Therefore through his language – “past the neat meadows” – and the emphasis through enjambment of ‘fled’ he makes the birds song disappear quickly and not be stained by the pains of reality. Through the language of ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ it can be seen Keats sees truth and reality through his language.
Through ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ Keats tries to find truth and reality by bringing the pictures of the urn to life and writing down the Grecian Urn’s ode that it depicts through its pictures. The language in the title is important. The use of ‘on’ instead of ‘to’ shows that the truth that is to be found is already on the urn, it is Keats purpose to uncover that truth. In the first stanza Keats brings forth many questions that appear on the Grecian Urn (“What struggle to escape?”), creating a frenzy and ecstasy. He goes on to answer these questions using his imagination leading to the truth.
In the second stanza, Keats uses his imagination to bring to life the melodies of the Grecian Urn – “Heard melodies are sweet” – yet Keats is entrapped in something deeper. There is a melody that Keats appreciates more – “spirit ditties of no tone”. He discovers a beauty to the urn through his imagination. This beauty is in the conflict on the urn. He acknowledges the urn as immortal, yet he contrasts this beauty with the maiden on the Urn who is never able to kiss her beloved. Both arguments are emphasised strongly – through repetition of “never, ever canst” and the enjambment of “For ever” – yet Keats seams to conflict whether imagination is better than reality.
The third stanza sees a continuation of this conflict. The further repetition of “forever” shows the immortality and beauty, yet the only way he can understand the beauty of the urn, he must relate it back to reality – “burning forehead and a parching tongue” – which shows sickness, the negatives of reality. He also tries to humanise the pictures on the urn by giving them urban settings – “little town by river or sea-shore” - yet by doing this he seems to lose some aspect of the mythical nature. He ends the ode ambiguity, even though he has a sense of awe to the urn, he starts to see it as lifeless – “Cold Pastoral”. At the same time he sees it as a form of poetry. Yet he does make a conclusion that whatever his final view on the urn its beauty his imagination created has led him to the truth – “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”. It is in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ that Keats questions the nature of the urn and its stories, thus his imagination has brought him closer to the truth and reality.
In concluding, through ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ and ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ Keats uses language to bring forth truth and reality that he has found in the beauty of nature and isolation. This is common in the romantic era showing how: “they believed that the imagination stands in some essential relation to truth and reality”.