It is the problem of decay in reality which the song of the nightingale particularly transcends, and the poet, yearning for the immortality of art, seeks another way to become one with the bird: “Away! Away! For I will fly with thee, Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards, But on the viewless wings of Poesy, Though the dull brain perplexes and retards.” Poetry is the next means of escape.
Here, I believe the metaphorical significance of the bird seems most clear. I believe that the nightingale is symbolic in that it represents the immortality and beauty of Keats’ dream world. Like the nightingale, poesy, too, Keats suggests, has wings. This paradox links with the “unheard melodies” in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn.’ Here, the poet also maintains the tension, the conflict between the spirit and the flesh (dreams and reality), by immediately referring to the dull brain that “perplexes and retards,” that pulls man back from the heights of dreams and imagination. This conflict between dreams and reality lies at the heart of the poem.
In the next few lines, for instance, there is a moment of pure spiritual transfiguration: “Already with thee! Tender is the night / And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne / Cluster’d around by all her starry Fays.” Yet, this is inevitably followed by the reminder that “…here there is no light / Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown / Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.” In other words, while the spirit is roaming in regions of a dream world of pure light, the body remains below in the darkness of reality.
In the next stanza Keats is carried away by the beauty of the surroundings he has created through his imagination. He uses beautiful and natural descriptions to describe this dream world: “soft incense hangs upon the boughs,” and “fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves.” This has both a strong visual impact and appeals to the senses other than sight such as smell and touch.
However, poetry and the imagination also prove to be an illusory means of escape. The poet now sees death as a means of escaping painful reality to the extent he sees it as almost a pleasure. Keats uses word choice which personifies death and seems to almost make death appear as an anaesthetic: “rich to die,” and “easeful death.” However, he soon realises the abhorrent reality of death and sees it as an unsuitable means of escape: “To thy high requiem become a sod.”
In stanza seven Keats idealises the nightingale and sees it as present through all time, in contact with spiritual essence, just as with the dancers in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn.’ The bird symbolises a perfect world for him, just as the urn is made perfect in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn.’
In the last stanza, the nightingale with its birdsong moves further and further way from the poet. Keats cannot follow it as he had hoped; he had momentarily been separated from himself and reality. The poet seems to have returned from his flight of dreams and imagination, but yet he is left in a state of confusion: “Was it a vision, or a waking dream? Fled is that music; - do I wake or sleep?” He appears to have returned to reality, yet after reading this stanza, for me, it seems difficult to define reality and what is actually real. I wonder whether Keats believes that reality is the life of a “real” human being, which is nevertheless over and eventually forgotten, or whether reality is the fanciful song of the nightingale, which has solidly survived for centuries.
In short, I believe that ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ clearly displays interplay between dreams and reality and through this idealistic dream world Keats shows his true view of reality. He seems to focus on the problems of pain, suffering and sadness in our human condition and reality, in comparison to the beauty and immortality of the nightingale and its’ birdsong.
CHAPTER TWO
‘ODE ON A GRECIAN URN’
I believe that in the poem ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn,’ the interplay between dreams and reality also plays an integral part. As in ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ there is the contrast between the human and mutable reality in contrast to the immortal and essential dream world of the urn. There are marked similarities between these two poems. Considerable issues are faced in both. I believe Keats tries to come to terms with the facts of age, sickness, sadness, and the sharp awareness that natural beauty is exquisite but also painfully transient.
Keats attempts the coming-to-terms in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ by contemplating a form of high art – the urn. The nightingale had offered one attractive but unsatisfying means of escape; art, on the ‘viewless wings’ of poesy’ proved to be an illusory means of escape. However, in this poem, art is seen as something genuinely immortal. The urn embodies human passion and human dignity, but it preserves them in a poised, motionless order, which transcends time.
Immediately, the urn is portrayed as an image of perfection, symbolising an ideal world in comparison to reality: “unravish’d bride,” and “thou foster child of silence and slow time.” The urn is given life as Keats gives the reader information and speculates about the people on the urn: “What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?… What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?” These rhetorical questions build up the tempo and demonstrate the vividness of the urn.
In the second stanza, Keats portrays the permanence of this work of art as being superior to the transience of life and superior to reality. In this stanza Keats states “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter.” This is a paradox and in ‘Poetry of John Keats’, Elliot Gilbert claims Keats is suggesting that the idea that the things of the so-called “real” world, the world of sensual experience, are corruptions, feeble limitations of certain ideal forms which exist in the serene and unchanging perfection apart from man’s world of birth, growth, decay and death. Unheard melodies, then, containing as they do, infinite possibilities of melody, must be sweeter than any number of heard melodies, which after all, are merely transient and inevitably flawed. I believe this shows that the urn, like the “unheard melodies”, is represented to us as a type of Platonic pure form, existing outside the time, communicating extravagant sound and motion while itself remaining silent and still. In addition, the figures in the dream world of the urn, beauty and perfection last forever unlike reality: “Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss… She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss / For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!” This however, I feel, also shows us that the perfect and immortal beauty which the figures on the urn enjoy has been achieved at the sacrifice of sensual experience; the pleasure of the lovers, always just about to kiss, is offset by their inability to complete the act.
In the third stanza Keats has escaped himself and entered and bonded with the life of the urn. This stanza of the poem continues the development of this contrast between immortality and the dream world of the urn in contrast to reality and the human experience. The word “happy” is repeated several times. I believe Keats cannot put this great happiness into words, happiness is an almost exalted mystical state. Unlike anything in the world, the urn is both vital and timeless. However, as in ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ the poet returns to the unpleasant realities of the human world: “That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d / A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.”
In the last stanza the urn is now portrayed as an “Attic shape! Fair attitude! With brede(embroidery)” It is no longer a living thing, it is now an object, a shape. The poet has “withdrawn” from his imaginative dream world back to reality. The men and maidens are now marble, the whole pastoral scene is cold. I believe, here, Keats suggests immortality, like eternity, cannot really be grasped by the human mind.
This poem also has an enigmatic conclusion, however, unlike ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ this poem ends with a statement rather than questions: “’Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ – that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” This couplet has caused great literary debate. I personally believe Keats is trying to say here that perhaps art is the highest form of wisdom. It allows us to escape ourselves into a dream world away from harsh reality. However, these lines are open to wide interpretation.
In both ‘Ode on a Nightingale’ and ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ Keats chooses to emphasise the tragic nature of our human condition – that in the world of experience and change all beautiful things must fade and die. However, I think that the poet believes that in order to experience the true joy of beauty and reality we must come to terms with the pain and suffering of our human condition. He does this through the interplay of dreams and reality, thus showing how dreams and reality are of significance in Keats’ presentation of the world.
CHAPTER THREE
‘ODE ON MELANCHOLY’
This poem also deals with the contrast of imaginary beauty and immortality in contrast to reality. The beginning of the first stanza’s imagery is familiar from ‘Ode to a Nightingale’: “No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist Wolfe’s bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine….”
In this poem, however, the theme is predominantly about how melancholy should be confronted, with full consciousness of the experience. Keats sees the profoundest source of melancholy as being man’s knowledge of the transience of life and beauty; consequently, at moments of deepest melancholy, the sufferer should try to enjoy whatever symbols of beauty he can find: “But when the melancholy fit shall fall… Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose, Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave.”
In this poem, I believe as in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn,’ Keats realises that joy and sorrow are experienced in turn, sorrow often follows beauty and joy, and therefore the fullest appreciation of joy and beauty demands an equally profound acceptance of sorrow and death. I believe this is part of Keats’ perception of reality.
As in the other two odes that I have looked at, Keats shows that in reality the perfection and beauty will not last unlike a dream world. The third stanza begins by invoking this “beauty that must die” with the poignant images of “Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips,” and “aching pleasure nigh, turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips,”; that is, painful pleasure, beginning to cloy even at the instant it most pleases.
I believe this shows us yet again that this reality in comparison to another dream world full of beauty and immortality is full of melancholy and is close to bitterness. However, this is needed in order to experience the true joy of reality. I feel that this is the central theme of ‘Ode on Melancholy’. In addition, I think that the ending of this poem clearly contrasts with the ending of ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ and ‘Ode on a Nightingale’. In ‘Ode on Melancholy,’ Keats seems to reach a resolution, whereas I believe this is lacking in ‘Ode on a Nightingale’ as in this poem the poet seems to be left in a state of confusion: “Fled is that music; – do I wake or sleep?” and ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ concludes rather enigmatically.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘HYPERION’ AND ‘THE FALL OF HYPERION; A DREAM’
‘ ‘The Fall of Hyperion; A Dream’ also include references to dreams and reality. Here Keats begins opening with a dream vision of art. This shows similarities to ‘Ode on a Grecian urn’ where I believe, through the urn, Keats seems to present art as the highest form of wisdom. However, I believe a difference is that in comparison to the other poems studied, here, Keats adopts a more conventional narrative attitude. Also, in the other poems through the interplay of dreams and reality, Keats often reveals his perception of reality, yet in this poem Keats focuses more on his own personal poetry.
In this passage Keats looks at the ultimate meaning of art, and of poetry. This is done in the form of a dream vision. The poet finds himself – in his dream – in a mysterious forest, before a strangely empty banquet in which there “seemed refuse of a meal.” Whilst eating in this feast the poet pledges to “all the mortals of the world… And all the dead whose names are in our lips,” with a glass of “transparent juice” which turns out to be a magic potion, this being the magic potion of poetry, of which Keats declares “that full draught is parent of my theme.” Thus Keats again enters an imaginative dream world.
Falling down in swoon after drinking this nectar like beverage, Keats finds himself before a mysteriously abandoned and impressive temple. Approaching the altar he sees a staircase and as he starts to climb the steps a voice warns: “If thou canst not ascend… These steps, die on the marble where thou art.” Struggling against strangling and suffocating cold which seems to rise from his “iced” feet, the poet just manages to gain the steps “one minute before death”, and he is immediately restored by their life giving powers. I think that these problems may represent the problems of reality and the mortal world. This also links to the imagery of death and suffering found in ‘Ode to a Nightingale’: “Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies.” Keats ascends the stairs and when he reaches the top he discovers a “veiled shadow,” the keeper of an ancient flame. This veiled and mysterious figure is Moneta, who I think could be identified as a kind of muse-figure.
Keats’ dialogue with Moneta sets forth his final attitude towards himself as a poet, as well as his final attitude towards poetry. Through fear that he is no more than a “dreamer”, “a dreaming thing. A fever of (him)self,” he finally gains courage to identify himself with the true poets and find the true meaning of poetry and art.
I believe that through this Keats makes discoveries about himself as a poet and about poetry itself: “Fanatics have their dreams,” and “Poesy alone can tell her dreams.” I think that Keats suggests that everyone has dreams, including fanatics, savages and poets. He also points out that the altered perception of the poet is perhaps different from others.
I think that in this poem Keats provides his thoughts on his poetry and his view of the world as the poem often refers to images of dreams and almost uncertainty: “dreams,” “sleep”, “spell”, “charm”, “enchantment,” “visions,” and “paradises”. Through this I think that Keats is trying to show that like the dreams of savages and fanatics who have a perhaps even unintentional alternative vision, poetic ideas are difficult to pin down and transient.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘SLEEP AND POETRY’
As in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn,’ and ‘Ode to a Nightingale,’ this poems shows how acutely aware Keats is of the transience of life: “life is but a day… a fragile dew drop.” In this poem Keats prostrates himself before the figure of Poesy, humbly confessing his inexperience, and then pays homage to Apollo, his protective spirit. With Apollo’s encouragement and sanction he would endeavour to “seize the events of the wide world” and through his verse give them “Wings to find out an immortality.” As in the rest of the poems that I have studied ‘Sleep and Poetry’ continues the interplay between dreams and reality and shows Keats’ underlying view about the transience of reality. This poem particularly focuses on what it is to sleep and the imagination. In addition, as in ‘The Fall of Hyperion; A Dream’ Keats also looks closely at poetry and as in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ shows poetry as a high art form full of wisdom. It is another means of escaping reality through the imagination.
Poetry, he argues, is more than simply the discussion of themes. It also requires music and imagination: “sweet music,” and “fine sounds,” if it is to fulfil its greatest endeavour: “To soothe the cares, and lift the thoughts of man.” I believe that like the imagination and sleep, poetry, for the poet, is a way to almost escape reality and enter an imaginative dream world. Again Keats uses the metaphor of poetry as wings: “Of out-spread wings.” I think that Keats believes that poetry, dreams and our imagination can almost lift our spirits out of ourselves, and take us somewhere beyond the pains of reality, perhaps to that of a dream world, which Keats often creates.
Also, in ‘Sleep and Poetry’ Keats raises many questions about sleep. Chief among these is the question of what the poet actually means by ‘sleep.’ On a fairly simple level, sleep here is to rest; it is ease and escape, refreshing the mind and body, and offering relief from the hard realities of daily life. Thus I believe this again demonstrates Keats desire to enter a dream world and escape from reality.
This is shown when Keats conveys poetry as offering relief from the ever-present consciousness and is therefore “higher beyond thought.” Keats shows that sleep is also important for the creative mind; it is “the silence when some rhymes are coming out.” In my opinion, the poet believes that a state of calm such as sleep is an essential state of mind if the imagination is to function at its best.
Furthermore, Keats portrays sleep as an escape from emotional turmoil, not just from sexual yearnings but also from the conscience, change, uncertainty and politics, which are all present in reality. Again, Keats focuses on the harsh realities of our mortal world which he desires to escape from, sleep enables him to do so.
In the sense of a “higher consciousness” sleep is portrayed as another metaphor of the imagination. Keats describes linking the imagination with sleep. I think that this is created through dreams. Keats tries to describe his view of the imagination: “All imaginings will hover/ Round my fire-side, and haply there discover Vistas of solemn beauty…” I think that this means, for Keats the imagination is similar to dreaming and is thus beyond his control, and hence “we must ever wonder how.” Perhaps here, Keats is trying to suggest that there is mystery surrounding poetic creativity. Yet, at the same time, it works a mysterious creativity deep in the unconscious. It is something that must be allowed space and tranquillity to “meander.” As in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ and ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ dreams are synonymous with profound insights made possible by the imagination, usually through changing reality. I think that Keats uses dreams both as a great means of escaping harsh reality and as a way of switching off the rational mind.