Ode on Melancholy

Annotated Text of Ode on Melancholy

1
No, no, go not to Lethe [1] , neither twist
Wolf’s-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss’d
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;[2]
Make not your rosary of yew-berries, [3]
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, [4] nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow’s mysteries; [5]
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.[6]

2
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.

3
She [7] 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
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; [8]
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.[9]

Listen to Ode on Melancholy


Recording of Ode On Melancholy read by Leonard Wilson

Summary

“Ode on Melancholy,” by John Keats tells readers what to do when they’re sad. This ode, full of ancient Greek references and symbols, speaks directly to readers, who may need to understand these references to fully grasp what the speaker is saying. It is written in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme ABABCDECDE for the first two stanzas and ABABCDEDCE (with the rhyming of second- and third-to-last lines switched) for the third stanza. Melancholy, Joy, Beauty, Delight, and Pleasure are capitalized and personified, brought to life as active characters as though they have wills of their own. The readers’ role is thus, in a sense subverted, controlled by these emotions and qualities.

A Closer Reading

“No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf’s-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss’d
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;” (lines 1-4)

Emphasizing the words no, not, neither, and nor, the speaker instructs readers what not to do in sadness. For instance, he says, “go not to Lethe” (line 1) or, don’t forget your sorrow. Then he instructs listeners not to kill or poison themselves either (with wolf’s-bane or with nightshade).

“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;” (lines 5-8)

The speaker continues, saying don’t just resign yourself to death (yew-berries are a symbol of death) or things related to death (the beetle, death-moth, and downy owl).

“For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.” (lines 9-10)

He throws in a twist here. The previous lines seem like good advice, but in these lines, he gets to the reason for this advice: if you do these things, you’ll become numb and will no longer be able to feel the anguish of sorrow.

“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;” (lines 11-14)

Here he uses rain falling as a metaphor for sadness descending on a person. Though rain falls on the “droop-headed flowers” (line 13), it is also necessary for their survival and beauty. The shroud is another allusion to death, but it is only temporary darkness, like a rainy season that will pass.

“Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globed peonies;” (lines 15-17)

Finally getting to what the reader should do, the speaker says to feed your sorrow with the natural beauty.

Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes. (lines 18-20)

“Mistress” could be a metaphor for sorrow or death, or it could be talking about a literal person. Either way, the speaker is saying to embrace and revel in sorrow.

She dwells with Beauty–Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasures nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips: (21-24)

Here the speaker talks about the transience of beauty. He says that beauty and melancholy are related, but that joy is always leaving and pleasure becomes something bad.

“Ay, in the very temple of Delight
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,” (lines 25-29)

He continues that melancholy hides within delight, and only those who experience joy to its fullest can find the melancholy within.

“And be among her cloudy trophies hung.” (line 30)

The speaker has told readers what not to do, what to do, and how to find melancholy, and now we see that he seems to be urging readers to let themselves be defeated by or give in to melancholy to be another person that she defeated.

Analysis of the Ode

The Romantic period has many distinct characteristics, an important one being the speaker’s use of and connection with nature. John Keats’ “Ode on Melancholy” fits nicely into this period because it uses nature and ancient Greek references to depict melancholy, pleasure, and pain. At the start of the poem nature is used to depict symbols of sorrow and grief. Whether it is the poisonous waters of Hades or poisonous plants, the speaker is warning the reader not to turn to darkness during their time of sadness.

Another aspect of the Romantic period within this poem is the personification of emotions like melancholy. In lines 29-30 the speaker says, “His soul shall taste the sadness of her might, And be among her cloudy trophies hung.” This personification makes melancholy more than just an emotion but a challenge that can fight back. We cannot simply overcome melancholy but instead, like a person, it can fight and scheme against us.

This poem links pleasure and pain through nature, saying this is the root of melancholy because we cannot have beauty or joy without sadness. At once the connection is made by an excessive amount of sorrow being unloaded onto the beautiful things in nature. Line 15 says, “Glut thy sorrow on a morning rose.” In lines 21-23 the poem reads, “Beauty that must die; And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh.” No matter what beauty and joy cannot be everlasting, and there is an ache for pleasure with their passing. Even in “delight” melancholy is sovereign and cannot be escaped (line 25.)

The narrative of “Ode on Melancholy” is not first person but rather a stern voice instructing the reader what to do in times of sorrow. We are first introduced with the subject of the poem, melancholy, and then the poem develops to command the reader on how to act. The speaker calls for action on part of the reader and all those facing sorrow. This is not a poem meant simply to be admired but to provide a lesson that the reader can take away from it, but what message or lesson Keats was trying to convey? The speaker says not to flee from sadness but, again, to “glut” it on the pleasure of beauty (line 15.)

However, this advice does not seem to promise an entirely happy ending. Although there is direction not to entirely give into sadness but instead to feed it with natural beauty, in the end melancholy will win. We cannot separate pleasure and pain but can only learn how to live with the two entwined. The last two lines read, “His soul shall taste the sadness of her might, And be among her cloudy trophies hung” (lines 29-30.) Those of us who fight against sorrow with “strenuous tongue” will still experience sadness and simply be amongst melancholy’s “trophies” because melancholy cannot be overcome (lines 27 and 30.) Ultimately, this ode provides advice but perhaps not an ideal solution.

References:
Keats, John. “Ode on Melancholy.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th. 2. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Co Inc, 2006. 907-8. Print.

Leonard Wilson “Ode On Melancholy” <http://librivox.org/john-keats-selected-poems-by-john-keats/> 17 May 2012.

Contributors:
Katie Alteri
Dana Ginsburg
Elisabeth McGraw
Jessica Rodio
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
Benjamin Cooper

  1. ^ The waters of forgetfulness in Hades.
  2. ^ The wife of Pluto and queen of the underworld. “Nightshade and “wolf’sbane” (line 2) are poisonous plants.
  3. ^ A symbol of death.
  4. ^ In ancient times Psyche (the soul) was sometimes represented as a butterfly or moth, fluttering out of the mouth of a dying man. Th eallusion may also be the death’s-head moth, which has skull-like marking on its back. The “beetle” of line 6 refers to replicas of the large black beetle, the scarab, which were often placed by Egyptians in their tombs as a symbol of resurrection.
  5. ^ Secret rituals
  6. ^ I.e., sorrow needs contrast to sustain its intensity.
  7. ^ Usually taken to refer to Melancholy rather than to “thy mistress” in line 18
  8. ^ sensitive, refined.
  9. ^ A reference to the Greek and Roman practice of hanging trophies in the temples of the gods.