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Professor Aubry
Ode on Melancholy, Negative Capability and Keats’ Pursuit of Serenity
John Keats, like many before him, used poetry as a vehicle for self-discovery.
In light of his looming death at the hands of tuberculosis, Keats endeavored to make
meaning of his brief stay, by seeking comfort in his turn of phrase “Negative
Capability”. The concept suggests that man and his mind are of infinite depth. In the
poem Ode on Melancholy, Keats combines the reflections of his previous odes to
meditate upon the transient nature of beauty and the inevitability of sadness, thus
uncovering the inseparable bond between joy and melancholy: life and death. He
argues that in order to withstand melancholy and appreciate life, one must be
proactive and appreciative of natural beauty. By establishing this connection and
embracing melancholy, Keats continued his quest for serenity, assisting his search
for solace in spite of his mortality.
To unearth the themes and meanings in Melancholy, it is necessary first to
place it in the context of Keats’ work. The poem is the penultimate in a series of odes
written over the course of 1819. The previous odes were written in the first person
and considered the nature of art, beauty, and life from the position of an observer.
Prior to these odes, Keats’ earlier poems such as When I have Fears that I May Cease
to Be carry a sense of anxiety and helplessness when considering themes of a similar
nature, which can only be alleviated through art and poetry. These poems were not
written to argue or guide but rather to reflect. Melancholy, on the contraire, was
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written to guide the audience through these experiences through more than just
reflection, as if an amalgamation of Keats’ observations about sadness and coping
with it. As such, it is written in the first-person imperative tense. Keats uses
extensive mythological symbols to detach the arguments from the trappings of earth
thereby instilling in the audience a sense of otherworldly discovery. Through this
imaginary realm, Keats reaches his conclusions.
The first part of Keats’ argument is that melancholy is inescapable and
should be counterbalanced with natural beauty to overcome it. It cannot be
forgotten, nor can suicide alleviate it. Keats begins this argument with the lines “No,
no, go not to Lethe, neither twist/ Wolfsbane, tight rooted”, openly declaring that
one must not travel to the river of forgetfulness nor attempt suicide with poisonous
roots. Figuratively speaking, Keats suggests that attempting to flee from pain is
fruitless. Keats repeats the use of negative words, “no, no, go not…” to emphasize a
sense of passion in the poet’s advice. This passion reinforces his thesis that escapism
degrades the quality of life, as evidenced by the lines “For shade to shade will come
too drowsily, / And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul”. This drowning of the
soul diminishes all types of emotion, not just melancholy. Thus, the only “escape”
from melancholy is one that degrades the quality of all other feelings, and is not
much an escape at all. Keats’ passion is also carried forward through his use of
assonance. For example, the lines “By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine / Make
not your rosary of yew-berries,” emphasize the sound of a long a in nightshade and
grape, as well as the y sound at the ends of rosary and yew-berries. Keats
establishes this internal rhyme scheme so that the stanza reads lyrically and fluidly,
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just as the argument is to be perceived. Though empowered by the strong emotions
of the speaker, the argument retains its logic. Finally, the opening to the second
stanza states “But when the melancholy fit shall fall / sudden from heaven like a
weeping cloud” as a means to fully deliver the concept of melancholy’s inevitability.
By using the word when, Keats assumes that it is going to happen. If he meant
otherwise, he would have used the word if. Thus, Keats opines that escapism does
not solve melancholy and that melancholy itself is only escapable at the cost of the
conscience.
The next piece of Keats’ argument is that there is an indispensable
connection between joy and pain, which makes each unique and worthy of
experience. Melancholy, to Keats, is something to be celebrated and not abhorred.
This is illustrated by the lines “Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud / that
fosters the droop-headed flowers all”. Though melancholy “weeps” from clouds of
heaven, the rain helps the flowers below grow. However, though these flowers are
nourished by melancholy, they too are saddened, implied by the word droopheaded. Similarly, this rain “hides the green hill in an April shroud”, which implies
that although the green hill is hidden behind melancholy’s rain it is still inherently
green, or in other words alive. This relationship indicates a connection between life
and death and likewise joy and melancholy. Keats suggests that in order to cope
with and survive melancholy, an obviously unpleasant experience, one should “glut
thy sorrow on a morning rose / or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave, / or on the
wealth of globéd peonies”. He suggests indulging in the beauty of the natural world,
though it will eventually die, as the ephemerality makes it beautiful. To reinforce
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this idea, he speaks directly to the audience, saying “or if thy mistress some rich
anger shows, / imprison her soft hand, and let her rave, / and feed deep, deep upon
her peerless eyes”. On a personal level, perhaps a nod to his own lover, Keats asserts
that even if one finds itself at odds with its significant other or object of desire, they
should temper the pain and anger with an appreciation for beauty and love, as the
mistress too shall pass. On the heels of this assertion, Keats believes her anger
should be appreciated as it is a key component of life, which is further explained
below. Keats repeats the word “deep” to convey a sense of urgency. This urgency is a
result of the limited time we have to live with and appreciate beauty, time which
should be spent appreciating the broad spectrum of emotion, not only sadness.
The final discovery made in Keats’ journey towards serenity is that
melancholy is a core component of joy, is inherent in all things, and is necessary to
make the experience worthwhile. Though on the surface similar to the previous
case, this discovery takes the connection between the two emotions further by not
only declaring that one cannot be without the other, but also that joy is not worth
experiencing without equal melancholy. According to Keats, in order to make the
most of an exceedingly fleeting life, it is of utmost importance to enjoy the pain that
melancholy brings as it makes the pleasures of life sweeter. The lines “She dwells
with Beauty–Beauty that must die; / and Joy, whose hands is ever at his lips /
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh” evince the sense of transience permeating
the poem. More importantly, the lines personify four characters: “She”—presumed
to be both melancholy and the mistress mentioned in the second stanza—Beauty,
Joy, and Pleasure. These characters interact on one level, and on the other their
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human qualities describe the tendencies of the emotions themself. That is, beauty is
soon to die, joy is forever waving goodbye, and there is inherent pain in pleasure.
The three are then condensed into the natural example of “turning to poison while
the bee-mouth sips”, in which a bee siphons nectar from a flower, which ultimately
signals its demise. Keats discovers that such connection is a quality of all things
natural and manmade, and is thus a necessary function of life. He justifies its
necessity by saying that “Aye in the very temple of Delight / Veiled Melancholy has
her sovereign shrine”. This further emphasizes his point above, which in all pleasure
there is pain, though certainly masked by the enjoyment derived, thus necessitating
the word “Veiled”. Keats then concludes that those who embrace the melancholic
qualities of pleasure and joy and understand the construction of these emotions are
to “taste the sadness of her might, / and be among her cloudy trophies hung.” He
suggests an immaterial strength of sadness and that embracing it yields a certain
reward, that is to be a trophy in its temple.
Presumably this would mean that welcoming the strength of sadness as a key
fixture in joy empowers the person experiencing it, directly contrasting escapism.
Finally, the use of the word “trophy” connotes victory and celebration, suggesting
that being one with melancholy instead of one absorbed by it is as beautiful as being
one with joy. Furthermore, melancholy itself and the experience of sadness is
important to Keats because it contributes to a wholesome life, as if suggesting
happiness can only be appreciated when sadness is known. Through these
discoveries Keats completes his syllogism that melancholy cannot be escaped, only
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balanced, is undeniably connected to joy, and because of its inherent qualities in all
things material and immaterial, is vital to leading a fulfilled life.
The poem does not exist in a vacuum; it is a vital part of Keats’ path to
accepting mortality. He draws strength from his negative capability, or the depth of
his imaginary realm, strength that enables him to learn timeless lessons of the
complexity of human emotion. By discovering that sadness is inherent in all things
and is a necessary part of life, Keats connects himself to the natural world that
provides him such awe. In doing so Keats broadens the scope of his quest for
serenity that enables him to end his mind’s loneliness. The angst of impending death
can trap one’s mind in a state of permanent isolation, a mold Keats was interested in
breaking. The goal was to find peace in impermanence so that meaning and beauty
can still be drawn from a life soon to be cut short. When staring down his death,
Keats chose not to concede nor spit in its face, but to embrace it with welcoming
arms so that he may settle his nerves before they never fire again.