Author Question: In the opening stanza to what things does the speaker compare the effectof the nightingales song? ... (Read 54 times)

james

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 573
In the opening stanza to what things does the speaker compare the effectof the nightingales song?
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

How could the nightingale singing in the poem be the same voice heard inthe ancient world? What point is Keats making about the permanence of nature?
 
  What will be an ideal response?



rekilledagain

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 337
Answer to Question 1


  • He compares the effect of the songwhich, he says, makes his heart ache and fills him with a drowsy numbnessto drinking hemlock or some other opiate. The speaker describes the song as taking him Lethe-wards, which is to suggest that the song helps him forget lifes sorrows. The seemingly magical nature of this process is underscored by his comparison of the bird to a Dryad a wood nymph out of Greek mythology.



Answer to Question 2


  • All music, all beauty, are part of undying nature. Nature, for Keats, is eternal; the bird is not a mortal creature who will die just as he will die, but is part of a natural world that knows no death.




Related Topics

Need homework help now?

Ask unlimited questions for free

Ask a Question
 

Did you know?

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that all women age 65 years of age or older should be screened with bone densitometry.

Did you know?

Alzheimer's disease affects only about 10% of people older than 65 years of age. Most forms of decreased mental function and dementia are caused by disuse (letting the mind get lazy).

Did you know?

Though newer “smart” infusion pumps are increasingly becoming more sophisticated, they cannot prevent all programming and administration errors. Health care professionals that use smart infusion pumps must still practice the rights of medication administration and have other professionals double-check all high-risk infusions.

Did you know?

Pregnant women usually experience a heightened sense of smell beginning late in the first trimester. Some experts call this the body's way of protecting a pregnant woman from foods that are unsafe for the fetus.

Did you know?

The use of salicylates dates back 2,500 years to Hippocrates's recommendation of willow bark (from which a salicylate is derived) as an aid to the pains of childbirth. However, overdosage of salicylates can harm body fluids, electrolytes, the CNS, the GI tract, the ears, the lungs, the blood, the liver, and the kidneys and cause coma or death.

For a complete list of videos, visit our video library