Ode on Melancholy

Lyric poetry and its conventions

• One of the three genres of poetry
• Short poem with one speaker, makes its impact in a very brief space
• Expresses thought and feeling
• The emotion is/seems personal
• Mood is musical and emotional
• Aims to imprint itself in our memory
• Special rhythm, derived from a very old form of oral poetry (written to be sung)

Melancholy (≠ sadness)

• Melancholy: beyond sad
• The gloomiest of feelings
• Overcome in sorrow

Notes on the poem

• "But when the melancholy fit shall fall/Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud" : shall fall suggests there is no escaping, pessimistic. Sudden seems violent, aching. Weeping cloud is a personification that alludes to clouds always full of water (tears), there is always a sadness, gloom over us about to come. Connects feelings and experiences to nature.

• "She dwells with Beauty- Beauty that must die": emphasizes his idea of melancholy (opposes to his idea of eternal beauty expressed in Ode on a Grecian Urn). Linking melancholy (death) to joy (beauty).

• "By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine": nightshade is a reference to a type of plant producing a poisonous grape. Dangerous beauty. Connects feelings and experiences to nature.

• "Emprison her soft hand": strong aggressive feelings. Emprison contrasts with soft hand. CONTRAST! Value all experiences of life.

• "Vail'd melancholy has her sovran shrine": idealizing melancholy, people stuck in gloom making melancholy a goddess. Something we should embrace it as a part of our experience.

• "Life, death, nature, experience, art- it's all connected in Keats' world view!"

• Many images suggest the colour red (berries, the lips, the tongue, the wine): color reflects the sensuous nature of Keats' poetry (sexuality and passion)

• Religious imagery? "A partner in your sorrow's mystery" = don't go too dark. Hints of catholic belief. 

• "Make not your rosary of yew-berries" don't make death your religion (but accept melancholy)

Exploring images (Done with Belen Alberti)

STANZA 1

Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd

By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine

This image creates meaning in the poem since it alludes to various elements with negative connotation, such as suffering, pale skin, and poisonous plants. This manages to create a gloomy mood/tone. "Kiss'd" contrasts with the implicit knowledge that nightshade is poisonous; although the action seems to be sweet we, as readers, know this affection would be deadly. Furthermore, the allusion to Prosperine (the Greek goddess) is a characteristic of Romanticism and the fascination by mythology.

Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be

Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl

A partner in your sorrow's mysteries

This image is meaningful since it creates a tension between what we feel as readers and what we are supposed to feel. Although the speaker indicates we should not feel gloomy "nor the death-moth be/Your mournful Psyche ", the dark tone and pessimistic language does make us feel this way. Furthermore, the death-moth is a symbol of death (not only because of the skull-like image on its head, but also because of its historical value: people in Ancient Greece believed our Psyche (mind and heart) left our body through a moth when we die). The reference to the moth and the owl is also serves as an example to state that nature is always referenced to in Keats' poems.

STANZA 2

But when the melancholy fit shall fall 

Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud

We are able to see the strength and violence of the rain falling like melancholy being the gloomiest of spririts, hence being so empowering and strong, yet appealing to something so weak and soft like a weeping cloud.

Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave, 

And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eye 

The image shows the tension between the lovers, how close yet far away they are from each other therefore how he has to “emprison” her because of her “rave” so the clashes are clearly seen: from the fact he has to force her to calm down and stay with him; to the feeling of love from her “Soft hand” and “peerless eyes”.

STANZA 3

  She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;

  And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips

  This image is very meaningful since it personifies Melancholy and Joy as a goddess and a god. It also depicts the conflicting relationship between these two deities: although they live in the same world, Joy tries to silence Melancholy. However, Melancholy is full of "Beauty", and the whole theme of the poem is how we must embrace both Joy and Melancholy since both are essential to the experience of life.

(...) aching Pleasure nigh,Turning to poison while bee-mouth sips:

This image is one of my personal favourites from the poem. The "aching Pleasure" is a perfect oxymoron that describes how painful pleasure can be, once again Keats highlights how our life is composed by contradictory and opposing emotions. Another interesting thing to notice is how Pleasure turns to poison once we taste it, since all sweet things (like nectar for bees) turn sour eventually, nothing is forever pure and good in our world. The comparison to the bee is interesting not only because our life experience is compared to nature like in many other instances, but also because it compares human beings to something so seemingly small and insignificant as a bee. This creates the impression that our life isn't really that different to a bee's life. We're both attracted by sweet nectar, and both of us can't help it turning into poison.