For this blog post, you are asked to respond to one or more of the following questions. As much as possible, please frame your contribution to the discussion in response to what your classmates have already said in the blog post.
DUE: Wednesday, February 27 (before class)
1.How does the structure of Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” reflect its theme of cyclic regeneration?
2. What does the speaker conclude about happiness in Smith’s “Written at the Close of Spring”? How does this compare with Shelley’s representation of the seasonal cycle in “Ode to the West Wind”?
3. How would you describe the speaker’s relationship to the nightingale in Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale”? How does it change from beginning to end?
4. How would you compare/contrast Keats’s “To Autumn” with Collins’s “Ode to Evening”?
1. I found that the structure of Ode to the West Wind successfully reflects the theme of cyclic regeneration because of the author’s use of personification. In the beginning of the poem the author starts of personifying ghosts as dead leaves and winged seeds and also speaking up of the “dead night” which I inferred as the end of a cold and dark season in time, or winter. The author then begins to personify himself as other aspects of nature. In line 52-55 he describes himself to be like a wave or a leaf that needed to be lifted and made into like the West Wing or a forest. He asks to drive the withered leaves out with new birth in hopes of the beginning of a new season, spring. I found that examples such as these support the author’s theme of cyclic regeneration because this poem is describing a “new birth” on Earth in which the old dead leaves will be lifted and reborn into new colors and turned just as they would when the seasons are changing. I found that this poem strongly reflects cyclic regeneration by depicting it as a new birth for the Earth.
3.I believe the speaker wishes to join the Nightingale. In the beginning of the poem he describes his own troubles and that he wishes to join the Nightingale because it does not know the “suffering” that man experiences- the bird is just meant to sing and fly. By the fifth stanza the speaker finds death appealing and wishes to go into the night with no pain. The speaker seems to be suffering of some sort of disease and sees the Nightingale as a form of release from his illness. The speaker thinks a bird embodies freedom from the suffering of man. In the 8th stanza the speaker hears a bell which brings him back from his dreams and the music ceases. When he wakes up he is confused if it was a vision or a dream. At the end of the poem his imagination fails him and he returns back to his life. In the end the speaker wanted so badly to be like the Nightingale he used his imagination to imagine what it would be like to be without sufferings. But, the two are too different.
The nightingale in John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” to the speaker represents the aura of a summer that he will have to live without his brother giving him more certainty in death and maybe a bit foreboding of his death that he suspects is nearing. He speaks about the nightingale with a twinge of jealousy. He seems to envy the happiness and joy of the nightingale in the wake of summer. He wishes to be in the same state as the nightingale and decides on poetry as his escape from his earthly problems and sorrows and his vessel to fly figuratively with the nightingale. His jealousy slowly becomes longing as the nightingale’s song begins to fade so does his hope to be free like the bird. Before it fades his longing becomes great as he thinks of how the nightingale’s song is eternal something that neither he nor humanity is. He bids the bird farewell and is left to dwell with his loneliness and darkness. For a brief moment he felt the freedom of the bird and he must question himself if he is dreaming. The freedom from the earthly problems is so surreal that he questions the validity of the emotions that have boiled over within him.
3. In Keats Ode to a Nightingale he begins by describing the pain he is struggling with in his life, similar to poison and moves on to admire the beautiful nightingale sitting on his windowsill. By using alliterations and light phrases such as “with beaded bubbles winking at the brim (17),” he is able to convey not only what this bird was doing but also how the beauty of the bird sunk in and became a way to escape his own life. As he travels through the poem Keats begins to reveal the fragility of life through the nightingale and using the seasons as a metaphor for life. The once sprightly and happy nightingale portrayed at the beginning becomes a tragic one because of the promise of death, even for creatures Keats feels it is unworthy to. The simplicity of a nightingale dancing through the trees and eventually falling to death is a topic which haunts everyone especially as Keats describes it as a poison weighing us down, in the contrast to the light nightingale showing us life. By using the nightingale as a catalyst for the sweet sorrows of life Keats is able to draw the audience in to his captivating poem.
Happiness, according to Smith, comes and goes with the season. “why has happiness- no second spring!” he writes on in line 14. In Keats’ “Ode to the West Wind,” he similarly describes a shift in tone/ mood that changes with the season. As the season changes to winter in Smith’s poem, he writes that there can be no glimpses of spring (happiness) in the midst of winter. As Shelly’s poem progresses, it get’s darker and dreary in tone and language; ‘sweet though in sadness…”.
I agree with erickoctavius that the speaker seems to be envious towards the nightingale. The nightingale lives in this almost fantasy-like world where it does not go through the troubles of life. In lines 21-25, the speaker expresses the issues that human beings go through and how the nightingale never has to waste its time worrying about problems. The speaker explains that they wish that they could fly with the nightingale also meaning that the speaker wishes to be able to escape from their reality (928). In lines 51-53, the speaker also shows that they are very accepting about death because it seems that he does not have control over his life. The way that he feels about death for himself contradicts with the immortality of the nightingale (929). In line 61, the speaker expresses that this majestic bird does not deserve to die but yet the speaker believes that he can give himself up to “Death” easily (929). The speaker’s relationship in the beginning towards the nightingale is this awe of this free-spirited bird. In the end of the poem, the speaker seems to be unsure if the interaction with the nightingale was real or if it was his dream.
I think that in some sense the narrarator envies the nightingale due to the depressing nature of his own life. There are instances in which he is describing the songs as the nightingale as something that is joyful and in some cases he states that the nightingale is unbelievably happy. In later parts of the chapter he e talks about how he wishes the nightingale would fly away and to some point how he wishes that he were like the nightingale and could fly away from his depression, or whatever was bothering him.
Charlotte Smith’s Written At the Close of Spring ends in a very somber tone making it seem that happiness is difficult to regenerate or reanimate, “why has happiness – no second Spring?” I read this line in two ways that essentially held the same meaning. The two definitions of Spring are: (1) the season for which symbolizes life and regeneration and (2) a quick rise, leap, or move forward. Why, the speaker asks, does happiness not resemble Spring in that it can easily regrow again as in a yearly cycle or have a second chance at starting something new again? (Like putting the spring back in someone’s step). In contrast with P.B. Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind, were the speaker details the cycles for which nature reanimates itself on a yearly basis and compares that wild wind as a rising spirit of enthusiasm and/or inspiration for him to write. Shelley describes the cycle of life by personifying the seasons (Autumn and Spring) as “Destroyer and Preserver” and more specifically, aims at talking to Autumn’s spirit. Much like John Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale, the speaker in Shelley’s poem asks the Autumn spirit if he can lift him “as a wave, a leaf, a cloud” as he is at the moment, falling “upon the thorns of life.” Much like winter and autumn symbolized as negative and ghastly times of the year, the speaker sees his life reflected as seeds lying like corpses in their graves, or the doom and violence of lightening. In order to bring normalcy and happiness back into life, he asks the autumn winds to “drive” his “dead thoughts over the universe” in order to bring in a “new birth” – a regeneration or “Spring” into his life.
In response to the first question, I believe Shelley conveys the theme of cyclic regeneration in his poem “Ode to the West Wind” through both structure and metaphor. The structure of this poem is (as said in the footnote) derived from the Italian “terza rima.” This alone helps convey a cyclic feeling, as the rhyming pattern is interwoven between tercets. Moreover, Shelley helps add density to his poem by metaphorically having the wind represent time, or the coming of a “new” age of thought, as suggested in the footnotes as well. In this sense, Shelley tries to explain how a different kind of literature or poetry is taking over, a.k.a. the Romantic Era. However, as it is wind, he might be suggesting that it is inspired by older poets, such as Dante Alighieri (I suggest this because the bio notes that he was well read in these types of works). Taking this perspective, the returning of the withered leaves that he speaks of might represent old pages or books which have been tossed aside and forgotten- but now are inspiring like ideas and writings. In addition, he explains how he wishes to be taken by the wind, and become like the withered leaves, implicating his desire to go down in history for his writings and ideas. Finally, the last line, “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?” further continues the theme of cyclic regeneration, as he suggests that this wind will continue to come and go.
Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” definitely reflects on the theme of cyclic regeneration through the description of nature. The imagery of the “Wild West Wind” consists of dead leaves, the howling wind, and the violent storms, all of which are necessary to the cycle of life. He describes the wind as being a “destroyer and a preserver,”. He desperately feels alone and conveys his loneliness through the anticipation of an answer to his distress. The usage of nature shows Shelley’s appreciation towards beauty and the natural world. He describes how powerful the wind is and expresses his poem in an artful technique that paints readers a picture of how majestic and grand the wind can be. Through the usage of metaphors he treats the wind as though it has captivated his entire soul. In every way the wind represents all of the important aspects of life; power, tranquility, beauty, and death.
As Keat’s “Ode to a Nightingale” begins, the speaker seems almost to envy this nightingale. Seeing both its freedom and its ability to rise above the darkness, Brown portrays a sense of longing, to escape where “there is no light”(38). The tone seems fairly constant throughout, a sorrowful and lamenting feeling that probably stems from his desire to escape his current condition (whatever that may be). His relationship with the Nightingale, however, is far more interesting. Brown becomes more and more entwined with the Nightingale, to the point where he must be tolled back to himself(72). In a sense, the speaker is using this Nightingale almost vicariously, using the hours he spent with it, to quite literally escape his darkened mindset, in favor of the care-free mind of the simple nightingale.
Regarding question 3, I agree with everyone else. The speaker begins the poem envying the nightingale for the fact that, as an animal, it has none of the cares that plague him. By stanza 5, the speaker has abandoned the subject and begins reflecting on death and dying as a release from suffering, perhaps similar to a nightingale flying away. Finally, the speaker snaps out of it in the last stanza, but had such vivid imagery and powerful emotions that he wonders if he was only dreaming.
(I originally posted a response before the deadline, but I guess it never got submitted. I still feel as thought I should contribute)
2) At the end of “written at the close of spring”, Smith asks the audience “Ah! Why has happiness-no second spring?” (14) The speaker concludes that humans are at their peak of happiness at the stages of youth. She almost argues that nature is much better off than humans, since nature has the abilities to start over (being youthful once more) every year.
In Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” The whole poem itself focuses around regeneration and the cycle of life, Life and death. This is apparent thorough out the Poem. For example in line 8 “…Each like a corpse within its grave…”, its easy to relate this to the natural circle of life.
And again shown between likes 15-28 when:
1) the plants and leaves die
2) They fertilize the soil
3) rain falls on the soil and regenerates the life in the forest.
4) Repeat
This is the life cycle in nature.