Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats | Poetry Analysis

Written in just an afternoon with a spark of inspiration from a nightingale's song, 'Ode to a Nightingale' is probably Keats' most famous poem, and an iconic work of British Romanticism. Despite the prosaic nature of Keats resting under a plum tree while listening to the bird's song, the poem is a wonderful crystallisation of how the mundane can be transformed into the sublime through poetic verse.

It's a piece of writing that fuses the boundaries between imagination and reality, thinking and feeling, past and present, the external world (nature) and the internal world (the mind). In this video, I dive into the many language, stylistic and thematic nuances to help us unpack, appreciate and savour this beautiful lyric poem.

TIMESTAMPS:
00:44 - Context: The poet and the poem
04:28 - Analysis: Stanzas 1-2
08:01 - Analysis: Stanzas 3-4
11:57 - Analysis: Stanzas 5-6
14:55 - Analysis: Stanzas 7-8

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