‘Ode on Melancholy’

No, no! go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf’s-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kist
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,	5
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow’s mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.	10
But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,	15
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globèd peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.	20
She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight	25
Veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.	30

What is John Keats trying to get across in his poem, Ode on Melancholy?

His first stanza uses dark imagery such as poison and hell to show that dwelling on sorrow will only allow it to become part of you and slowly drive you to despair. Keats’ second stanza suggests to the reader that if sorrow is to fall upon them, they should find things in life that make them feel happy to help drive off bad feelings. The last stanza concludes his discussion on melancholy buy suggesting that none of the good thigns in the world, such as beauty, joy, pleasure, or delight last forever but instead fade away leaving the less desirable of the feelings.

Most of this poem’s literary technique is pure and simple imagery and connotations. In the first stanza, he incorporates wolf’s bane, nightshade, and yew-berries, three types of poisonous plants, representing the way sorrow can get into your blood like a poison. Keats also warns against letting the beetle, the death-moth, or the owl (three more sinister animals) become your psyche, or let their dark symbolism become part of your soul or being. There are also two references to Hades: the river Lethe, and Proserpine, the goddess of the underworld (equivalent to Persephone). In the second stanza Keats once again uses symbolism to elaborate on the idea of sorrow, having it fall “from heaven like a weeping cloud that fosters the droop-headed flowers” covering everything in a shroud. If the words are looked at individually, it adds much more character to the passage. From the clouds weeping, to the flowers that droop as if they are sad, to the shroud, such as a covering one wears at a funeral, the entire first half of the stanza nearly ooze sorrow. The second half of the stanza suddenly switches to positive images such as a rose (traditionally meaning love), a rainbow (hope, such as in the story of Noah and the ark), a wealth of peonies (traditionally meaning prosperity), and the woman (representing beauty).

The last stanza uses an extended metaphor in the form of a personification. Beauty dies; Joy bids adieu; Pleasure aches. All of these nouns are capitalized and are refered to as “he” or “she”.

One of the interesting patterns in the poem occurs in the first stanza.  It suggests a three-piece progression through which one deals with depression. First you try to forget it, as the dead forget the trials of their lives in the river Lethe. However, that usually doesn’t work and it slowly leeches its way into your veins like a poison until it fills your whole body. Lastly, you are so far gone the only thing you can turn to is the perpetual call of death to just drown away everything permanently.

There are also three very similiar things in this section that can be regrouped another way. The wolf’s-bane is referred to in the form of wine, a drink customary of religious services for being the blood of Christ. The second religious symbol is the warning against using yew-berries, another poison, as rosary beads. The last reference is the psyche, which is essentially your soul. Could Keats possibly be using these objects to show the sacredness of finding a balance between emotions in life? If that balance is lost, your life slips into complete disorder.

Keats also uses a sort of a framing device in the poem through his imagery. The first stanza is full of symbolism for poison, and again in the last stanza when pleasure turns into poison. There is also the reference of nightshade as the “ruby grape of Proserpine”, a poison, while Joy is also referred to as a grape in the last stanza. The concept of the soul also carries over. In the first stanza, the mournful psyche is represented by an owl, or other sinister animal. In the last, the soul tastes the sadness of melancholy as the after taste of joy. This framing device unites the juxtaposition of desirable feelings and undesirable feelings. It shows that these feelings are connected, and one cannot truely exist without the other to create a foil. One cannot be truely appreciated without the other.