Comparison Of Ode To A Nightingale And Ode To A Grecian Urn Essay

Keatss odes, on the level of superficial reading can be seen as a brilliant rendering of a scene, a season or a mood; the final perfection of English landscape poetry. The two odes, namely, Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn appeal directly to the physical senses through a recognition of the physical reality of experience. However, such simplified conclusion is misleading as it disregards the poets complex thought process- where sensuousness and contemplation get unified.

The central themes of the two poems are neither a nightingale nor an urn, but, the poets eternal search for a center of refuge in a world of flux. It is through such a conception that Keats sets to resolve the dichotomy between the world of the ideal and that of reality within the order of experience.

In Ode to a Nightingale, the poet addresses a bird which appeals to his physical senses and seeks to unite with it. In the beginning, the poet is seen in a state of trance, happy beyond human endurance in his empathy with the birds song. Yet, he oscillates between the world of imagination and reality unable to reconcile them. At this moment, the wine, coold a long age in deep delvd earth becomes an agent to carry him to the platonic ideal state of perfection but ironically fails to make him win over his mortality. His desire to escape grows and seems almost fulfilled in the fourth stanza- he feels himself placed with the nightingale- amidst the forest which is so dark that even the presence of a throned moon is conjectural. Already with thee- he exclaims in recognition of an identification of himself with the spirit of the bird.

However, the very same statement presupposes I and Thee and indicates that this is not a true union, since, in a perfect union, the individual entities fuse to form a whole. The poet fails to become one with the bird, he can only accompany the bird (be with it). He realizes, as he returns to reality and relates his enrapturing experience with itthat man with his quality of transience cannot participate in the world of Imagination forever. He mentions, fancy and calls it deceiving elf, perhaps as a foil to Imagination. The experience of merging with the nightingale is based on sensual physicality and lacks the elevation of spiritual awareness. He is left perplexed regarding his state of consciousness while the receding music discards him from the world of ideal at a moment when he is not ready to confront reality.

This conflict is carried on to Ode on a Grecian Urn, where Keats acknowledges that heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter. In the beginning of this ode there is recognition of permanence in art. The poem is a sober and disciplined work of art, where passion and intellect fuse in a rounded perception, just like the urn which it talks about. He uses a series of imagery inspired by the carvings on the urn. Interestingly, he reflects on the presence of absence- the music unheard, the empty streets waiting for the people to return, the unfelt communion of the lovers who never unite. Thus, despite recognizing the superiority of Imagination over reality, he is troubled by the cold pastoral lifelessness of the moment frozen on the urn.

In both the odes, Douglas Bush observes, is a belief that whereas the momentary experience of beauty is fleeting, the embodiment of that moment in art, in song or in marble is an imperishable source of joy. However, this embodiment is not infused with life. The beauty of the maiden is eternally true, but equally true is the lack of satiation of the lovers. Keats sensuousness reaches a greater level of perfection through this recognition of absence.

Therefore, one might feel that it is easy to bring all the senses in ones poetry. However, as far as Keats is concerned it is not just how he mentions various sensations of sight, sound, touch, taste and smellit is about the flowers that he can not see, the music that he can not hear, the mystery that he can not unravel. His negative capability does not remain just a means to achieve objective distance from his own self, by negating himself to experience the world from a different viewpoint, but also to attempt to understand these sensations that even the inhabitants of that different point cannot experience.

This conflict between the present sensation and absence, fancy and imagination, transience and permanence is finally resolved in To Autumn. In this poem Keats understands that true fulfillment does not come from permanence but from maturation: Ripeness is all. However as he pens down the first two odes, this recognition does not dawn on him. He is still unable to solve the riddle of reality but his sensuousness makes him understand the disparity between the ideal and real and his contemplation makes him all the more eager to solve the riddle.

John Keats poems Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn exist for the purpose of describing a moment in life, such as a brief song of a nightingale and scene depicted on an urn; however within each moment there is a multitude of emotions. Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn deals with the perplexing and indefinable relationship between life and art. Ironically, it is the life of the urn that would normally associate with stillness that is shown to be representative of life. In Ode to a Nightingale the happiness is communicating with the nightingale as its song is contrasted with the dead weight of human illness, and the transience of youth and beauty. The odes are similar in many ways as in both Keats depicts the symbols of immortality, and grief to joy. However, the symbol of the nightingale is dealing with nature and the urn is a fantasy, a piece of art. Both require different senses for admiring. By comparing the elements of poems, it is evident that all aspects relate directly to human emotions.

The nightingale and urn are both symbols of immortality represented in different ways. In Ode to a Nightingale Keats contrasts the birds immortality to that of the life of human beings, as he says but the nightingale, entertaining generations after generations. In comparison the urn in Ode on a Grecian Urn is a sculptured vessel with Greek figures showing an unravished bride, an immortal object untouched by time, showing the life it is depicting is unchanging.

The inner pain and grief engulfing the poet is revealed in a very subtle manner in both the odes. Even when the speaker is in the imaginative world with the nightingale, he is thinking of death in embalmed darkness. He also realises that death means he could no longer hear the bird song. Suddenly the beautiful bird song seems to sound like a requiem. The nightingale flies away and its song seems a plaintive anthem, very faint. In Ode on a Grecian Urn the poet realises as the figures are frozen, they will never change. Keats emphasizes the feeling of permanence by repeating the words never, never. The repetition implies that man will never be able to kiss the maiden because his position will never change, and the space between both of them will never decrease.

In the Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn the symbols also contrast. The nightingale is a living creature and a part of nature. Contrary, the urn is stationary and a manmade object. The sense of hearing allows Keats to hear the nightingales enchanting music, although sight allows Keats to admire the urn.

John Keats presents many issues in this poetry, such as nature, existence and emotion. He wrote the Ode to a Nightingale and the Ode on a Grecian Urn at a difficult time in his life. As a result there are many similarities and few differences. Together, both their similarities illustrate the fragility of life and a greatness of human emotions.