Ode on Melancholy John Keats

Content, Audience, Purpose and Themes The ode was forced on him by his brothers death and his own falling health this relates to how his poem is written. The audience of the poem is those that are suffering from depression or are coping with a loss To inform people how to cope with sadness and depression The theme of sadness is present throughout the poem. Poem describing how pleasure and pain (good and bad etc) are related The title of the poem is ironic. Ode being a lyrical poem usually describing noble emotions through complex rhyme schemes celebrating something, Melancholy being a state of gentle sadness.

-The third stanza explains the advice that is given Context Shortest of Keats ‘Odes’ Made up of three stanzas, each stanza deals with the theme of sadness and suggest ways on how to cope with it. -The first stanza tells the reader what not to do when you are depressed: don’t forget your sadness, do not commit suicide, not to become obsessed with objects of death. -The second stanza says what to do instead of the forbidden things stated in stanza 1. -The third stanza explains the advice that is given

Form Each of the three stanzas are ten lines long Written in Iambic pentameter Stanzas 1 & 2 follow the same rhyme scheme : ABABCDECDE Stanza 3 follows the rhyme scheme of ABABCDEDCE The first four lines of each stanza define the stanzas subject and the last 6 develop the subject Written in the second person Each Stanza is made up of one complex sentence

Word Level Repetition of ‘no’ and ‘nor’ emphasizes the main message of what not to do. The repetition of ‘deep’ suggests how much of a hold depression can have over a person The repetition of ‘or’ shows how many other options there are other than getting depressed.

The compound adjectives ‘Wolfs-bane’ and ‘tight-rooted’ (line 2) show the grip that depression can have on a person. Internal Capitalization ‘Lethe’ ‘Proserpine’ ‘April’ ‘Beauty’ ‘Joy’ ‘Pleasure’ ‘Delight’ place emphasis on the message that is given throughout the poem. The co-ordinating conjunctions ‘and’ ‘or’ suggest that there is just more than one thing to do if you are sad or depressed. Use of pronouns to describe Melancholy - personalisation

Sentence Level Each stanza is made up of a complex sentence, this perhaps represents the complexity of life. The poem is written in a declarative mood

There are Mythology References Lethe (a river in Hades which makes people forget their past when they drink its water) - he is telling us not to forget our sadness in line 1 (go not to Lethe). Proserpine or Proserpina - Roman Goddess of Earth Psyche - human soul or human mind