Keats as a Writer of odes

Introduction

Originally ode was a Greek form of verse, but odes have been written in Latin Poetry also. It meant a
poetic composition written to be sung to the music of lyre. So it is known as lyrical in character. But
when ode form came into the hands of the English writers, the idea of Music was considered to be
essential and it became a type of lyric poem only. Thus in the context of English poetry, ode can be
defined as a lyrical poem which expresses exalted or enthusiastic emotion in respect of a theme which is
dignified and it does so in a metrical form.

Characteristics of an Ode

Following are the characteristics of an ode.

(a) It is an address to an abstract object which means that it is written to and not written about.

(b) Ode is a natural and spontaneous overflow of the feelings of its writer.

(c) The ode must be highly serious in character due to its dignified theme.

(d) Its language and style should also be dignified and elevated.

(d) The ode must exhibit a very clear, logic in the development of thought of its writer.

(f) The ode can adopt any of the metres regular or irregular.

Keats’ Odes

John- Keats dwelt on various forms of writing. But none of them has given him as great success as the
ode form. Therefore Keats is always remembered as a writer of odes, Again, Keats holds a leading rank
among the ode writers of English literature.

Unity of impression

The first and foremost quality of his odes is their unity of impression. The major odes of Keats — “Ode to
a Nightingale”, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and “Ode to Autumn” Malancholy” have a common subject and
theme. In all these odes the development of mood is more or less similar and the mood develops in a
shape of drama, i.e. first the mood takes birth, it develops, reaches climax and finally the anticlimax
takes place.

Ode to Nightingale

Now we study the dramatic development of Keats’s mood with reference to his odes. The very of
opening stanza of “Ode to Nightingale” takes Keats in a mood of escape, He wants to escape from fever
and fret of life. He longs for intoxicant, either a draught of vintage or “a beaker full of the warm sough to
help him fade away into the form that is the nightingale’s abode. Foreign to the worries of life, he wants
to share the joys of nightingale in his imagination. He wants to live in the world of “immortal bird” that
was not born for death. He says; “thou was not born for death, oh Immortal bird.”

Ode on Grecian Urn

Similarly in “Ode on Grecian Urn”, Keats is fully aware that in real life, every thing is short lived and
fleeting. But the urn which is the great piece of art gives him a sense of immortality. The pictures curved
upon it are immortal because they are fresh and vigorous from centuries. In both these poems the
fascinating clement for Keats in the world of imagination. As he says in “Ode on Grecian urn;” Heard
melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweater,

The other binding element between nightingale and urn is their permanence. The song of nightingale is
immortal; similarity the art that produced the urn is also immortal.

Escape into the world of imagination takes the two poems to a point of climax but in the right tradition
of dramatic development, the anti-climax takes place and this anticlimax brings Keats back to the world
of reality. In the “Ode to Nightingale”, the world “Forlorn” and in “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, the Urn’s
death brings Keats back into the world of man.

To Autumn and Ode on Melancholy

“To Autumn” can be read in the same light It depicts the theme of ripeness, decay and death in
describing the natural cycle of seasons; Autumn winter, spring, summer. In “Ode on Melancholy” the
throne of poem is that joys. and beauty are a source of human misery because they are short living.
Thus WC have seen that there is a unifying force behind the great Odes of Keats.

We find that Keats undergoes various stages of development which a Shakespearean hero experiences.
In the beginning he is in the position of Hamlet. He does not wish where to be or where not to be. “to be
or riot be, that’s question. ” He continues to hang between the world of . reality and the world of
imagination. But towards the end of his two odes, “Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn”, we
find that Keats has developed himself up to Hamlet’s state of readiness as after his escape he is ready to
accept the realities of life as they are. Keats did in odes o what Shakespeare had already done in dramas.

Keats’ Negative Capability

In short, when Ode form came to Keats it reached the height of perfection and subjectivity. It was
primarily under the influence of Shakespeare’s negative capability that Keats came to adopt this form of
verse. He wanted to attain that perfection in negative capability which Shakespeare had achieved in his
dramas, but Keats found that instead of drama, Ode form of verse was best suited to his purpose.

Negative capability is a capacity to negate one’s individual self and to assume the very personality of the
person whom the writer wants to portray. It is a capacity to be like water with no colour of its own, but
in his Odes and this is his individual contribution to this form of verse.

His Style
The style of the odes is as unifying as their mood and theme. Every ode has the same perfection of
language. He makes use of a beautiful vocabulary. Every word is as full of meaning as it is beautiful. The
language is concise, exact and concentrated. The right word has been used at the right place. The
technical excellence of odes is as great as their poetical. In his odes, – we has the best and finest of
Keats which is also best and finest in his poetry. Keat’s odes, to sum up, are the best form of verse as far
this genre is concerned. We may not find any other poet, a writer of odes, who can equal Keats in his
cadence, rhythm and perfection as well as the sublimity of their themes.