Talk:Ode to a Nightingale
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Keats' view of the bird does not change in the poem.
The person who wrote that has taken the fact that Keats refers to it as 'bird' out of context. In fact the only time he says 'bird' is in the seventh stanza, where the actual quote is 'Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!'. He even capitalised the word.
Also, 'deceiving elf' does not refer to the nightingale at all. Instead it refers to the 'fancy' (his imagination), mentioned a line before, which 'cannot cheat so well' (cannot be true reality). He is saying his imagination is a deceiving elf 'as she is fam'd to do'.
The nightingale is the vehicle on which Keats' imagination rides to forget his world. He is in constant awe of the bird throughout the poem. Saying he does not simply because he refers to the bird's song as a 'plaintive anthem' is unsubstantiated. It is once again taken out of context. The last stanza is Keats' feelings on leaving the world of the nightingale ('thy plaintive anthem fades/ Past the near meadows; over the still stream..'). The previously stated 'high reqiuem' is now referred to as 'plaintive anthem' simply because he is sad that it is fading away.
Keat's view of the bird does change in the poem, actually.
Keats realised he has been hoodwinked by the final stanza hence 'bird' instead of one of the more complimentary descriptions used earlier on. In the seventh stanza he is envious of the nightingale's immortality. In context that refers unfavourably with the more complimentary phrases used elsewhere. Note the use of cheat in "the fancy cannot cheat so well" in the eighth stanza. This is a pejorative phrase, indicating that he is irritated at the bird for cheating him. Once Keats leaves the state of negative capability he realises that the song is simplistic, why he else would he refer to it as plaintive instead of 'high requiem,' used just one stanza before, while he was still in negative capability? He is sad that he's lost the ecstasy, but he knows it will return ("adieu" rather than a more definite form of farewell).
'Deceiving elf' does refer to the nightingale: look at light winged "Dryad of the trees" earlier in the poem. Possecomitatus 15:24, 12 June 2006 (UTC)
