Based upon the conversation poems “Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats and “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the extent to which poetry and perception resolve isolation captivated the two Romantic poets, permeating their work. While through their respective poems both Keats and Coleridge explore the power of poetry to transport, Coleridge’s speaker experiences a journey that renews his appreciation for nature and others around him, while Keats ends his journey in resignation.
Despite their contrasting conclusions, both “Ode to a Nightingale” and “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” begin with tones of self-pity as the speakers address their unfavorable settings. However, the openings of the two poems anticipate the differing …show more content…
The emotional state that his diction evokes contrasts starkly from typical manifestations of happiness, suggesting that the speaker experiences denial, refusing to acknowledge the sorrow he feels due to his inability to escape as the nightingale does. The stanza indicates that in the speaker’s mind, feeling this despair is shameful, and he attempts to convince himself and the audience that he feels pleasure in the nightingale’s happiness and ease of expression. In contrast, Coleridge presents his speaker’s feelings of envy upfront. His use of colloquial and curt diction gives readers the impression that the speaker’s writing at the start of the poem is an outpouring of envy and self-pity, which is rash but also fleeting. Opening with the word “well” immediately establishes the conversational quality of the piece while simultaneously highlighting the speaker’s dissatisfaction (Lime-Tree Bower 1). Within the same line, the poet’s incorporation of the word “must” heightens the gloomy and powerless atmosphere (Lime-Tree Bower 2). He lacks the agency to experience the pleasures of journeying with friends, forced to remain isolated in an undesired
Despite their contrasting conclusions, both “Ode to a Nightingale” and “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” begin with tones of self-pity as the speakers address their unfavorable settings. However, the openings of the two poems anticipate the differing …show more content…
The emotional state that his diction evokes contrasts starkly from typical manifestations of happiness, suggesting that the speaker experiences denial, refusing to acknowledge the sorrow he feels due to his inability to escape as the nightingale does. The stanza indicates that in the speaker’s mind, feeling this despair is shameful, and he attempts to convince himself and the audience that he feels pleasure in the nightingale’s happiness and ease of expression. In contrast, Coleridge presents his speaker’s feelings of envy upfront. His use of colloquial and curt diction gives readers the impression that the speaker’s writing at the start of the poem is an outpouring of envy and self-pity, which is rash but also fleeting. Opening with the word “well” immediately establishes the conversational quality of the piece while simultaneously highlighting the speaker’s dissatisfaction (Lime-Tree Bower 1). Within the same line, the poet’s incorporation of the word “must” heightens the gloomy and powerless atmosphere (Lime-Tree Bower 2). He lacks the agency to experience the pleasures of journeying with friends, forced to remain isolated in an undesired