ODE TO NIGHTANGLE
.......John Keats....
TEXT:
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,—
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs,
Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;
And mid-May's eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times hath
Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?
WORD NOTES:
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
1. Why did the poet say " My heart achrs and a drowsey numbness pains"?
He had been benumbed by the song of the Nightangle.
2. " As though of hemlock I had drunk" what is hemlock?
A poisonous plant.
3. What does mean by Lethe words?
River of forgetfulness in the Hades.
4. Who is called " the light winged dryad of the trees"?
The Nightangle.
5. "Singest of summer in full throated ease"- who is referred to here?
Nightangle.
6. " Ti's not through envy of thy happy lot"- who is referred to here as thy?
The Nightangle.
7. "Of beachen green"- what is meant by beachen green?
Covered with green beech trees.
8. "Singest of summer in full throated ease"- what does mean by the full throated ease?
Sponteniously and profusely.
9. "O for a draught of vintage"- draught means?
Gulp
10. "O for a draught of vintage" vintage means?
Wine made from grapes.
11. "That has been cooled a long age in the deep delved of earth"- what is meant by the deep delved?
12. "Testing of Flora"- who is Flora?
Roman Goddess of Flowers.
13. What is meant by Provincial song?
Songs of Provincie in the southern England.
14. " The blushful Hippocrene" - what is Hippocrene?
According to Roman mythology Hippocrene is a fountain. Fountain of poetic power.
15. "And purple stained mouth"- it means..
Mouth stained with reddish hue of the setting sun.
16. "What thou among leaves hast never known"- what has not been known?
The weariness the fever and the fret.
17. " And laden eyed despairs "- it means..
A feeling of complete hopelessness.
18. " Where beauty can not...../ ...Beyond tomorrow" here the idea of the line...
The transience of human beauty and love.
19. "Away!Away! For I will fly to thee"- who will fly?
The poet. John Keats.
20. "Away!Away! For I will fly to thee"- who is referred to here as thee?
The Nightangle.
21. The poet wants to fly with the Nightangle...
Depending on the viewless wings of poesy.
22. "And haply the queen moon is on her throne"- here haply means?
Perhaps.
23. "Clustered around by all her starry Fays" here her refers to?
The moon.
24. "To thy high requiem become a sod"- requiem means? Sod means?
Song of prayer.
A piece of turf.
25. "To thy high requiem become a sod"- sod means? Sod refers to?
A piece of turf.
Grave.
26. Who is Bacchus?
The Greek God of wine.
27. " Darkling I listen"- darkling means?
In the dark.
28. " And mid May's eldest child,"- here the child of mid may is?
The musk rose.
29. The musk rose is full of ...
Dewy wine.
30. "Called him soft names in many mused rhymes " whom did the speaker call in his mused rhymes?
Death.
31. The story of Rath is found in...? Who is Ruth?
The Bible.
Ruth is a Moabite woman.
Next page: Ulysses
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Home Page:
.......John Keats....
TEXT:
My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,—
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known,
The weariness, the fever, and the fret
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan;
Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies;
Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
And leaden-eyed despairs,
Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
Away! away! for I will fly to thee,
Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,
But on the viewless wings of Poesy,
Though the dull brain perplexes and retards:
Already with thee! tender is the night,
And haply the Queen-Moon is on her throne,
Cluster'd around by all her starry Fays;
But here there is no light,
Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
Fast fading violets cover'd up in leaves;
And mid-May's eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
In such an ecstasy!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
To thy high requiem become a sod.
Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!
No hungry generations tread thee down;
The voice I hear this passing night was heard
In ancient days by emperor and clown:
Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
The same that oft-times hath
Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next valley-glades:
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?
WORD NOTES:
- Hemlock - poisonous plant
- Leathe words - River of forgetfulness in Hedas.
- Vintage - wine made from grapes
- Deep delved of earth- underground
- Flora - Roman Goddess of Flowers
- Provincial song - song of Provincie in the southern France
- Beaker - glass of wine
- Warm south - stimulating wine from southern province
- Blushful- red hue
- Hippocrene- it is one of the fountain mentioned in Greek mythology, drinking it's water makes one archive poetic power.
- Beaded bubbles- bubbles like bead
- Purple stained mouth- mouth stained with red wine
- Laden eyed- despair and hopelessness
- Pine- lament
- Charioted- transported . Bacchus is the Greek God of wine who used to charioted by leopards.
- Poesy - poetic inspiration
- Haply - perhaps
- Starry Fays- fairy like small stars.
- Verdurous gloom - darkness due to thick green leaves.
- Dewy wine - honey
- Darkling - in the dark
- Requiem - lament song
IMPORTANT QUESTION:
1. Why did the poet say " My heart achrs and a drowsey numbness pains"?
He had been benumbed by the song of the Nightangle.
2. " As though of hemlock I had drunk" what is hemlock?
A poisonous plant.
3. What does mean by Lethe words?
River of forgetfulness in the Hades.
4. Who is called " the light winged dryad of the trees"?
The Nightangle.
5. "Singest of summer in full throated ease"- who is referred to here?
Nightangle.
6. " Ti's not through envy of thy happy lot"- who is referred to here as thy?
The Nightangle.
7. "Of beachen green"- what is meant by beachen green?
Covered with green beech trees.
8. "Singest of summer in full throated ease"- what does mean by the full throated ease?
Sponteniously and profusely.
9. "O for a draught of vintage"- draught means?
Gulp
10. "O for a draught of vintage" vintage means?
Wine made from grapes.
11. "That has been cooled a long age in the deep delved of earth"- what is meant by the deep delved?
12. "Testing of Flora"- who is Flora?
Roman Goddess of Flowers.
13. What is meant by Provincial song?
Songs of Provincie in the southern England.
14. " The blushful Hippocrene" - what is Hippocrene?
According to Roman mythology Hippocrene is a fountain. Fountain of poetic power.
15. "And purple stained mouth"- it means..
Mouth stained with reddish hue of the setting sun.
16. "What thou among leaves hast never known"- what has not been known?
The weariness the fever and the fret.
17. " And laden eyed despairs "- it means..
A feeling of complete hopelessness.
18. " Where beauty can not...../ ...Beyond tomorrow" here the idea of the line...
The transience of human beauty and love.
19. "Away!Away! For I will fly to thee"- who will fly?
The poet. John Keats.
20. "Away!Away! For I will fly to thee"- who is referred to here as thee?
The Nightangle.
21. The poet wants to fly with the Nightangle...
Depending on the viewless wings of poesy.
22. "And haply the queen moon is on her throne"- here haply means?
Perhaps.
23. "Clustered around by all her starry Fays" here her refers to?
The moon.
24. "To thy high requiem become a sod"- requiem means? Sod means?
Song of prayer.
A piece of turf.
25. "To thy high requiem become a sod"- sod means? Sod refers to?
A piece of turf.
Grave.
26. Who is Bacchus?
The Greek God of wine.
27. " Darkling I listen"- darkling means?
In the dark.
28. " And mid May's eldest child,"- here the child of mid may is?
The musk rose.
29. The musk rose is full of ...
Dewy wine.
30. "Called him soft names in many mused rhymes " whom did the speaker call in his mused rhymes?
Death.
31. The story of Rath is found in...? Who is Ruth?
The Bible.
Ruth is a Moabite woman.
Next page: Ulysses
Previous Page:
Home Page:
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