Explore how Keats makes use of escapism in Ode to a Nightingale and in one other poem. You must relate your discussion to relevant contextual factors.
Throughout Keats Ode s he explores escapism in several different forms, dreams, loss of thought and death. He attempts to escape in other more dangerous ways as well and this shows the reader that he is not a perfect person, this perhaps makes him more likeable as a writer as all his previous poetry has depicted intense love and fairytales. These, however, are just another form of escapism, escaping his reality for these magical or historical lands. The reason he may be writing about escapism is that he has just lost his brother to tuberculosis and wanting to escape his sad reality through poetry.
In Ode to a Nightingale, Keats use of sleep as an escape comes through his dreamy language Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget/What thou amongst the leaves hath never known the use of dissolve is surreal and suggests a loss of consciousness, the comparison of this to the Nightingale who hath never known shows the depressive thoughts of Keats . He wishes to be separated from his knowledge or even woes and only know his art as the Nightingale does. He then wishes to join the Nightingale on the viewless wings of Poesy and this further shows he wants his art to guide him away, using viewless as a possible desire to escape with poetry from the criticism he received from Byron and other upper-class poets, calling his poetry mental masturbation . This interpretation gives the poem a sadder tone and in the final line Keats questions Do I wake or sleep? this forces the reader to question this as well, and the sad tone continues as he has been drawn back to reality, as the Nightingale disappears past the near meadows, over the still stream this descri ption of their farewell is sorrowful as the art flies from Keats. In Ode to Indolence Keats slips in and out of consciousness and it is unclear what is real and what is not. Before me were three figures seen this passive language makes Keats seem disconnected from them& the use of figures suggests that they are not exactly human and the supernatural is brought in as a theme as these visions are seen in Keats drowsy noons . Keats then describes, My sleep had been embroidered with dim dreams confirming that the figures were in his mind and dreams. This line is questioning the truth of dreams, embroidery suggests something purposeful and precise whereas dim dreams contradicts this and it shows that Keats creativity and surrealist writings come out in his dreams, accurate but dim. This could allude to his memories of his mother who died when he was 14, they are specific and purposeful but dim and fading like a dream.
Keats wishes to lose his consciousness in Ode to Nightingale so he can focus solely on his art, the dull brain perplexes and retards . There are several things that allude to him achieving this state, even for a short while. The 5th stanza contains fewer punctuations than those prior and perhaps this shows his unfolding loss of thought, that he tries to forget proper punctuation and it becomes almost a stream of consciousness and he merely describes everything around him in a highly synesthetic way. Nor what soft incense this type of descri ption is transcendent because it is not as accessible as other descri ptions, it requires human nature to be able to understand these lines, something perhaps the Nightingale cannot have. The last line of the 5th stanza The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves is even more immersive than the others, its onomatopeic elements murmurous would make it more popular in Keats time as his poetry was more likely to be read aloud, In addition, sibilance would add to the sensuous atmosphere. This could make the reader get lost in the poem and therefore they may lose their own thought as Keats has. Keats may want to lose his thought so that he will not have to grieve for his brother, he may also want to escape thoughts of addiction and alcohol that he mentions at the very start of the poem, &Keats bring drug references into the first stanza suggesting a strong connection to them, it was possible Keats was suffering from withdrawal from his alleged drug addiction. As though of hemlock I had drunk,/or emptied some dull opiate... this simile is Keats wanting to join the Nightingale in its unawareness and is suggesting to do this by using substances. Keats even uses the word drunk due to the past tense of the line, but it clearly presents the feeling he wants to achieve. In the third stanza, the alliteration of b suggests he is in this drunken state, a blubbering man beaded bubbles winking at the brim . Furthermore this descri ption of the river of inspiration is described like champagne, bubbles and brim , alluding to the river being as effective as alcohol. In Ode to Indolence Keats uses the loss of thought through personification, recognising the figures as The first was a fair Maid, and Love her name& / The second was Ambition, pale of cheek...The last whom I love more...I knew to be my demon Poesy this descri ption could suggest that these are the only things Keats needs and he wishes to escape, leaving everything else behind. Keats ached for wings so that he could fly away with them. This form of escapism is Keats wanting to escape his troubles only with love, ambition and his poetry and he enforces negative capability. This could mean he wants to die with Fanny, his girlfriend, fame and poetry. He then contradicts all his aching for these things in stanza 5, Upon your skirts has fallen no tears of mine showing he isn t sad to see them go, perhaps he realises that he needs suffering for his poetry and he let s go of the things he feels are now within him I yet have visions for the night , in his dreams is where he has his best ideas, because he has no conscience or thought there, only his creativity. Ripe was the drowsy hour suggests that his sleep is Ripe with visions and inspiration. Indolence is habitual laziness, but Keats continually describes this as a positive thing, and that his best ideas come from it. Even making this sonnet style poem an Ode , a respectful praise to Indolence because it is where he feels half conscious and half escaped from his own mind and toilings.
In Ode to Nightingale, the darkest way that Keats wishes to escape is through death, describing it as, I have been half in love with easeful death the use of past tense shows that perhaps he doesn t feel this way anymore, and the further use of half could suggest a consideration of suicide but because it was only half a feeling, he did not act on it. However, the use of easeful suggests it could be easy and nice and he would be able to escape the memories of working in a hospital and seeing so many ill, that he could easily overdose or just wait for death. Another suggestion of death is where palsy shakes a few, sad, last grey hairs the 6th stress syllable makes it sound heavy and the monosyllabic language is depressing, as if Keats already feels old already at such a young age, it is possible that he is aware he has tuberculosis from his brother and is waiting to get iller. In Ode to Indolence the use of adieu meaning goodbye forever, could mean he is saying goodbye to the visions to Love, Ambition and Poetry, despite that being what he lives for, this could suggest he doesn t want to live without them anymore. He also described Benumbed my eyes, my pulse grew less and less the oxymoronic grew and less suggests a dream-like state where he is not dying but going into a lucid state. The pulse however does allude to death and the following pain had no sting , could be an allusion to death as it has no sting , or at the very least being a death-like state, where he feels no pain or pleasure. This continual theme of death runs in Keats life as well as in his poetry, through hospitals his family and possibly himself.
Keats uses many methods of escapism in these Ode s but it appears his main escape is the poetry itself. Using the methods within the poems hasn t worked for him in the past so he wishes to escape on Love, Ambition and Poetry. The indulgent language shows either an intense attachment or an out of body detachment says Grierson, due to Keats situation these Odes could have been an intense detachment as he tries to escape his sad life or it could be him buried so deep into poetry he can transcend human nature and emotions and be like the Nightingale. These two Odes, explore more fundamental human desires, more than his too smokeable &other poems, as Keats describes them. The Ode s are thought and often proved to be the reason Keats became famous today, proving that he was often harsh on himself, this is possibly due to the aforementioned criticism he received from Byron.
