Imagery and rhythm and rhyme

In what follows, we will discuss the imagery and rhythm and rhyme of the poem “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats.

Imagery

The poetry genre is usually characterised by the use of a wide range of figures of speech and stylistic devices creating imagery. These may include, but are not limited to, metaphors, similes and comparisons, epithets, personification, symbols, repetitions, etc.

Allusions & Metaphors

The poet combines allusions with metaphors several times in the poem. Allusions are references to people, events or objects. In the poem, the nightingale is always described metaphorically.

She is called “light-wingèd Dryad of the trees” (l. 7), which is an allusion to a female spirit living within a tree from Greek mythology. The bird’s song is very powerful making the poet dream of escaping and connecting with nature.

Then, the bird is again referred in connection to a Greek mythological being - “the blushful Hippocrene” (l. 16). Hippocrene is the word given to depict a spring created by Pegasus.

Two other allusions in the text are that of the Biblical character Ruth (l. 66) and of one of the underground rivers of Hades, which becomes a metaphor for alcohol: “One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:” (l. 4)

Hyperbole

The nightingale is given absolute qualities, she becomes unique and “Immortal Bird” (l. 61), as the song of such bird is always the same and, thus, everlasting.

Similes and comparisons

Lines 3-4 form an extended simile as the poet compares alcohol and the state it induces with the river Lethe, which takes people to th...