- The birds, which do not sing in the beginning and end of the poem, are symbols which represent the ephemeral nature of love. For this reason, the commencement and conclusion of this poem have similar tones and atmospheres which illustrate the narrator’s unaltered state of mind.
- “And no birds sing!” line 4, 48
- “Alone and palely loitering?” line 2, 46
- “The sedge is withered from the Lake” line 3, 47
- Keats uses varying tones to blend the realm of dreams with reality which displays the unattainable nature of love.
- “I saw their starved lips in the gloam” line 41
- “And there she lulled me asleep” line 33
- “The latest dream I ever dreamt” line 35
- “And there I dreamed. Ah Woe betide!” line 34
- “And I awake, and found me here” line 43
- Keats contrasts the sublime nature of beauty illustrated by the “natural imagery” to the idea of death represented by the “dark imagery”, to show that with more beauty comes more pain and loneliness, thus conveying the fleeting nature of love.
- “I see a lily on thy brow/With anguish moist and fever dew/And on thy cheeks a fading rose” Lines 9-12
- “roots of relish sweet/And honey wild and manna dew,” Lines 25-26
- “I met a lady in the meads,” Line 13
- “She looked at me as she did love/And made sweet moan.” Lines 19-20
- “...the sedge is withered from the Lake/And no birds sing” lines 47-48
- “The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild” line 15; “Ode- Nightin”
- “night”, “no light”, “cannot see” “haunt”, “midnight” lines 5, 8, 11, 20, 26 ;“Ode to a Nightingale”
- “La Belle Dame sans Merci” takes the readers on a dream-like journey to prove that love is a cycle of life and death in contrast to the illusions of eternal love which the knight desires.
- “She looked at me as she did love” line 19
- “And nothing else saw all day long,” line 22
- “‘I love thee true.’” Line 28
- “With kisses four.” Line 32
- “… she lulled me asleep,” line 33
- “…cold hill side.” Line 36
- “death pale” line 37
- Keats uses the repetition of “death” as a means of escape in order to illustrate the inaccessible transient nature of the human life.
- “withereth” line 12
- “death-pale” line 38
- “starved lips” line 41
- “pale” line 37, 38
- “withered” line 47, 3
- “easeful Death,” line 22 “Ode to a Nightingale”
- “quiet breath;” line 24 “Ode to a Nightingale”
- “die” line 25 “Ode to a Nightingale”
- Keats symbolizes women in this poem with water; men who mess with women end up getting all soggy and wet. Therefore, men become weak by their contact with women, thus revealing that love is not perfect nor is it ideal.
- “dew” line 26
- “wept” line 30
- “fever dew” line 10
- “moist” line 10
- “Lake” lines 3, 47
- Implications:
- Love is self- destructive
-
More feelings of beauty and love→the more desolate and more painful the world becomes.
- Love is temporary
- Man’s feelings are deceiving
Assignment 3: Essay
Option 2: “Ambiguity in a poem is perhaps its greatest attraction.” Referring closely to Keats’ poetry, examine how multiple meanings can be suggested in a poem and how the ambiguity relates to larger themes.
Ambiguity is a literary technique used by poets and writers that is used as a suspense mechanism. It creates a conflicting mood and allows the reader to interpret the language in various ways. Keats’ poems are immersed with literary ambiguity primarily to create themes of death, change, and love. He displays these themes in such a way that the reader is unsure of his feelings; the dark imagery that he refers to also enhance these obvious yet ambiguous ideas he poses in his poetry. By creating this sense of uncertainty, Keats is able to encourage the reader to come up with an ulterior interpretation of his story.
In “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”, the repetition of words and phrases and the shorter stanzas enhance the ambiguous effect. The short stanzas make us feel as if something is being neglected or missing. This allows the reader to ask various questions. In the first and last stanzas, almost every line is repeated. Keats wanted this poem’s insights to linger beyond the first reading. He “shows” the meaning rather than “tells” it directly. Because the beginning and end of the poem is similar, it shows that the journey the soldier experienced had no impact on his life. Everything remains the same, and no change has taken place. This ambiguity is used to demonstrate the unexpected ending which leads to death and uncertainty. Furthermore, because the tones are similar, the reader feels the exact same way as they did in the beginning of the poem, mystified. The subtle imagery also augments the ambiguous feeling in reading this poem. By not describing the setting in much detail, the reader creates a mood and atmosphere that would best fit their interpretation of what is happening in the poem. The imagery drawn from the medieval realm of enchantment also creates a mythological atmosphere which is an unfamiliar state to humans. This type of atmosphere allows readers to ponder over the deeper meanings behind the poem. The ambiguity throughout this poem not only allows the reader to use his or her imagination but it also creates open minds and conveys universal themes.
In “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, Keats utilizes ambiguity to display his feelings about death and love. The sense of ambiguity comes from the narrator representing Keats’ own life and the images on the urn. The images are directed to a point of synthesis on the emotional suffering of Keats’ inability to be close to someone he loves. He represents these images on the urn to show the way the ambiguity, uncertainty of Keats’ emotions between melancholy and exuberance that are present on the urn. He is obviously perplexed about the idea of death and this allows the reader to have a deeper connection to the poem, and with Keats’ emotional experience. The evidence of the fusion between the urn and Keats’ emotions and the connection of the speaker and the urn represent the ambiguity between the concreteness of the urn and the speaker’s separate identity: John Keats himself.
In, “Ode to a Nightingale”, Keats makes the reader feel as though something is missing, he does this by inciting the represented wish and at the same time fulfilling this wish with the rich support of Keats’ imagery. This can be proved with the quotes: “O for a beaker full of the warm South,/ Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,/ With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,/ And purple-stained mouth;/ That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,/ And with thee fade away into the forest dim:” Throughout this poem, Keats makes it clear that he is uncertain about his view on death and his illness. He knows that he has to die, but does not understand why. He makes the readers go on the same journey as he is and causes the reader to feel the same way he does. This creates a relationship between the reader and Keats which allows us to think deeper and create different meanings of the emotions that are being presented.
In conclusion, ambiguity, in poetry serves to enhance the readers’ experience by revealing little, and allows the reader to use their imagination. This leaves a broad region of interpretation; Keats’ use of ambiguity allows him to evoke certain tones and moods that are similar to his own. This effect would be impossible without being ambiguous. In all of his poems, Keats emphasizes the importance of themes such as beauty, love, and the ephemeral nature of life. He wishes to conquer each of these ideals, but realizes that they are unattainable or they are very short-lived. In many cases, he concludes that pain is a by-product of each of these ideas. He uses ambiguous terms, structures, and language to demonstrate these ideas. His use of ambiguity in the endings of his poems keep readers interested and helps ensure lasting significance. He also uses other figures of speech such as paradox, imagery, unpredictable shifts, and dramatic metaphors to help improve the ambiguity in his poems. This deliberate use of ambiguity contributes to the effectiveness, richness, and beauty of his work.
