Ode to a Nightingale

The emotion of longing permeates the poem, with the speaker often wishing for anything that will take him out of his present state. In his present state, the speaker has an exaggerated awareness of the constraints and shackles of human life. That is why his description of human existence is hyperbolic, as is his idea of an escape. To be human is described as sitting and hearing each other groan, and to think is to “be full of sorrow / leaden-eyed despairs” (Lines 27-28). Note the heaviness of the word “leaden,” as if the speaker feels physically weighed down by his troubles. Not even beauty and love provide a respite in this state: “Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, / Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow” (Lines 29-30). Thus, the speaker experiences human life as overwhelmingly negative, although the truth is this existence also encompasses imagination and beauty. The emphasis on the drudgery and misery of life reveals the speaker’s altered state of mind: He is worried, bereaved, and emotionally exhausted.

It is not just the descriptions of decay that emphasize the bleakness of human life but also the powerful longing for the alternate. To the speaker in his sorrowed state, any potential respite appears a miracle and a reprieve.