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 Views
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"Ode on Melancholy" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/23405/ode-on-melancholy>.
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