Flavorful Odes: Ode On Melancholy and To Autumn by John Keats

John Keats' brilliance as a poet can be seen and felt by any careful reader who absorbs his work, but his true genius becomes apparent because of two particular odes, Ode On Melancholy and To Autumn. As both pieces of work are read, a great bridge is erected and the reader can see that the Ode On Melancholy is necessary to be understood, and should be seen as a kind of stepping stone to the even deeper, more profound, To Autumn.

In the first stanza of Ode On Melancholy, the speaker addresses those who are filled with melancholy. He, the speaker, (we will assume, for the sake of simplicity and clarity in this writing, that the speaker is indeed a "he") warns the reader not to become indulgent in the many well-known objects that are almost innately connected with pain and suffering. "No, go not to Lethe" (line 1), the speaker pleads. Lethe is the river, famous in Greek mythology, running through Hell, and is known for giving anyone who drinks or bathes in its waters complete forgetfulness. By this, the speaker passively condemns the action of forgetting everything that is causing one's mental strife, and ultimately fleeing from the pain, which would be washing yourself in complete oblivion.

Not only shall the melancholic individual avoid forgetfulness, but the speaker also says not to "twist Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine" (line 1-2). Since we're dealing with a first-rate poet, the metaphors and subtle, inundated meanings, become more complex. Today's visually-stimulated audience would better identify with the barrel of a fat pistol buried somewhere in the folds of the fleshy cheeks of one sweaty individual, and the loud clap of thunder as the gun does its job. Instead, Keats' speaker gives us an image of desperate hands wringing a deadly juice from a poisonous plant, known as Wolf's-bane. The ultimate goal, whether by gun or plant, is suicide. Like forgetfulness, suicide is a way to run from one's grief, and the speaker says no to such an option.