The function of the classical allusion is very much paralleled by that of the literary allusion, for example lines 43-49 appear to echo Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”:
“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine...”
Thus, Keats delicately depicts a perfect summer evening, whilst the tacit association to fairies imparts an alternative slant on his reverie. However, allusions remain but one of an inestimable number of intricate devices employed. The use of the metaphor and personification are particularly effective here in their ability to elucidate:
“...light-winged Dryad of the trees...”
“Where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes...”
In the first example the delineation of the Nightingale is compelling, not only in the delightful portrayal of the bird as a flying wood nymph, but also as a passing reference to the ancient world. The latter example is demonstrative of the poignancy personification can evoke. Even beauty cannot prevail over the hideous truth of existence, thus only serving to highlight the contrast between invention and reality. Contrast in imagery is yet another fundamental theme in its illumination of the two states. Keats pairs life and death; “Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth!”, “The weariness, the fever, and the fret..,” sorrow and joy; “What thou amongst the leaves has never known,” “...being too happy in thy happiness,” numbness with sensitivity; “I cannot see what flowers are at my feet/ Nor what soft incense hangs upon the bows,” and lastly juxtaposes immortality and transience in Stanza 7; “Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!/ No hungry generations tread thee down”. This use of contrast is one of Keats’ most potent methods of emphasis; one concept, in highlighting the disparity, provides a heightened clarity of its inverse, thus presenting a truly vibrant reproduction of the inspiration the Nightingale aroused. The significance of this last point, and of those other techniques mentioned, is in their encapsulation of Keats’ poetic methods in “Ode to a Nightingale”. Essentially they are responsible for the amplification of the distinction between Keats’ brief personal escape and the existence of unendurable suffering. The bird’s unrelenting poignancy reminds the poet, still haunted by the painful death of his brother, of the inexorable wretchedness of human grief and sickness, and of the transience of human youth and beauty; “Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies...” Overwhelmed by the magnificence of the sound he hears, Keats wishes to share its ecstasy; “And with thee fade away into the forest dim...” He considers and dismisses access first through wine; “O, for a draught of vintage!” then through poetry; “...on the viewless wings of Poesy...” and lastly through death; “Now more than ever seems it rich to die...” but realises that it was just delusion; “...the fancy cannot cheat so well...” and that the eternal purity of the bird’s song is beyond mortal reach. Thus, the fantasy ends and he is restored to conscious thought; “To toll me back to my sole self!” However, Keats only ever offers an account of his world, a world dominated by pain, fear and dread. Thus, it is a reality distorted by personal grief, not a true representation of human existence.
In conclusion, it may be argued that, from the outset, “Ode to a Nightingale” has no grounding in reality. Yet, neither does it arrive at that “different territory”, our human devices being so far from sufficient. Thus, it is possible that the poem may be interpreted as purely a meditation on the nightingale’s song, its simple harmony remaining an enduring symbol of art, outlasting the mortal life of the individual.
