nightingale

In his poem, “Ode to a Nightingale,” Keats conjures an image of a “light-wingéd Dryad” (Nightingale), who “In some melodious plot of beechen green, and shadows numberless, singest of summer in full-throated ease.” The nightingale’s song is a commonly used symbol for poetry as both are expressions of inspiration and powerful emotion. Using a concrete object to refer to a more abstract one allows for greater interpretation and stimulates creativity. It forces the reader to think of something in a new imaginative way; a description of poetry is much less stimulating compared to a comparison of poetry to birdsong through metaphor.

It is also imperative to note the diction in this poem and its effect on the image that the poet wishes to portray. A dryad is a wood nymph, something not of this Earth but rather a creature belonging to an enchanted world. The speaker yearns to join the bird in its blissful weightless state of unconsciousness for he is pained by his awareness of mortality. The speaker decides that poetry will enable him to transcend the material world and join the Nightingale.

The picture shown above illustrates a nightingale singing amidst greenery. The focus is primarily on the bird. The blurry background is reminiscent of the part in the poem where the speaker cannot see his surroundings and instead has to rely upon the nightingale’s song for guidance. The visual representation of the idea, although endearing, oversimplifies and detracts from the purpose of the poem. Relying on an image instead of the poem decreases the imagination required to interpret and derive meaning from the metaphor. The detailed imagery and language of a poem is pivotal in spurring the imagination to great heights, which is one of the aims of Keats’ poem “Ode to a Nightingale.”