Lexical Choices and Thematic Depth in John Keats' Ode to a Nightingale

Abstract

This paper entails a thorough stylistic mapping of Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale, focusing on the level of vocabulary Ideational G. Analyzing the choice of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, in particular, should show how lexical choices made by Keats help the reader understand the depth of the poem. This analysis demonstrates how a specific noun like ‘nightingale,’ ‘death’ and ‘dream’ conveys nature, death and escapism from the poem respectively. In contrast, verbs like ‘fade, ‘flee’ and ‘dissolve’ used by Keats continue to impress on the reader the ephemeral nature of life. While adjectives associated with Keats's work like ‘immortal', and ‘melancholy', created a sense of longing within the reader, they also created melancholy. ‘Softly’, ‘half’, and many other adverbs are looked at to determine the role they play in raising a sense of suspension and reflection within the reader. Such words stand out in capturing the audience's emotions and communicating the poem's message on the impermanence in life and the quest for something beyond. Although Ode to a Nightingale has already been the focus of numerous studies, this paper attempts to devise a new approach that has not been tried before by narrowing the scope to the impact of Keats’ word selection on the tone, images and ideas of the poem. A case study approach was embraced in this paper by building on existing literature. From the analysis, it is clear that the choice of words in the poems as used by Keats enhances the quality of the meanings and themes of the poems thus bringing the readers closer to issues of mortality and the wish to flee from it.

Keywords: Adjectives, Imagery, Lexical Choices, Nouns, Verbs