In this week’s episode of Beyond the Verse, the official podcast of PoemAnalysis.com and Poetry+, Joe and Maiya look into John Keats’s haunting meditation on mortality and art, 'Ode to a Nightingale.' Written during the poet’s final years, this celebrated ode encapsulates the fleeting nature of life and the immortal legacy of beauty.
Joe and Maiya explore how Keats uses the nightingale’s song as a symbol of timeless artistic expression, contrasting it with the poet’s own fears of death and obscurity. They unpack the classical references—Lethe, Bacchus, and Ruth—and examine how Keats’s sensual language and rich imagery evoke both ecstasy and existential despair. With reflections on Romanticism, negative capability, and poetic legacy, this episode reveals the tension between the human desire to endure and the inevitability of being forgotten.
Download exclusive PDFs on 'Ode to a Nightingale,' available to Poetry+ members:
Tune in and discover:
- Why the nightingale represents artistic immortality
- How Keats’s medical background and personal tragedies shaped the poem
- What the ode reveals about Romanticism’s second generation
- Why the poem’s ambiguous ending epitomizes Keats’s poetic vision
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