Ode on Melancholy

When one is feeling sadness, grief, or discomfort, it is understandable to want that feeling to subside. However, according to the poem’s speaker, pushing down an uncomfortable emotion is not always an ideal option, nor does suicidal ideation present beneficial solutions. To clarify this, the speaker calls on the addressee to stop imagining ingesting specific plants.

The speaker urges the listener not to “twist / Wolf’s bane, tight-rooted, for its poison” (Lines 1-2). Wolf’s-bane is a highly toxic member of the tuber family; its poison, which has deleterious effects on heart rate, was used in ancient Rome to dress the tips of arrowheads and swords. The man should also not “suffer […] to be kissed / By nightshade” (Lines 3-4). This toxic plant, which causes hallucinations and drowsiness as it numbs nerves, was also used by assassins, though in lower doses, it was used medicinally for melancholy and tuberculosis (sometimes with deadly results). Finally, “yew-berries” (Line 5) are also not an answered prayer, as their poison stops the functioning of the heart.

Using these references to poisonous plants shows that while it seems the sublimation of melancholy is desirable, seeking final and irrevocable obliteration is not the solution the addressee might assume it to be.