I decided to read this poem after T.S. Elliot discussed how to read it. T.S. Elliot suggested that while nothing in this poem actually discusses a nightingale, but the essence of a nightingale is there. Now for that to work one has to know what a nightingale is. I do not know what a nightingale looks like but from the poem I can garner the image. The idea nightingale is a creature that is something that can not be contained and something to revel in. Keats compares it to something that can not be caged but in someway celebrated in life. And yet at the same time it is a sad sight to behold as the nightingale is something that is not often seen. You are reminded that this is an unusual occurrence. In some ways this creates a sense of sadness because you are reminded that the nightingale is a rare sight. The emotion of this poem is rich. It makes you feel like there is a sense of the unknown, happiness, and sadness all at once. For Keats and his purpose on the odes this shows off the paradox that the introduction text discusses about how the odes are phrased. It makes the reader confused and forces them to reread sections in order to fully grasp the idea that is being brought forward. This makes the poem into something more powerful then just a quick read but a literary device that forces people to full appreciate what is around them.
Robert,
ReplyDeleteThis post, while repeating the experiment of your previous one, is less successful because it seems to fail to look closely at what Keats actually says, and gets sidetracked into imagining an "idea nightingale." The lack of any textual focus or evidence makes the post less than clear and persuasive.
I like that you picked one of Keats' Odes to write about. I, for one, didn't too much like a lot of Keats' stuff just because it did seem rather inconsistent and all over the place, like you pointed out. So it was nice to see somewhat of an analysis on the ode.
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