Analysis of Ode on Melancholy

John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)




No, no! go not to Lethe, neither twist
     Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kissed
     By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
     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.

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,
     Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
          Or on the wealth of globed 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.

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
     Veiled 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.


Scheme ABABCXDCDX EFEFGHCGHX IJIJKBXLBKL
Poetic Form
Metre 111111101 11110111001 1101110111 1110111 1111001110 1101010111 1101010101 010011100 11111111 010110101 110100111 1011010101 1100110101 0101101101 1111010101 110110111 110111100 1111011101 10110101 0111010101 1111010111 0111110111 1001010101 1011010111 1001010101 110010101 1111111100 1 1111011101 1111010101 0101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,392
Words 226
Sentences 5
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 10, 10, 11
Lines Amount 31
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 330
Words per stanza (avg) 75
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 29, 2023

1:08 min read
233

John Keats

John Keats was an English Romantic poet. more…

All John Keats poems | John Keats Books

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