Use of Greek Myth in John Keats's Odes

       USE OF GREEK MYTH IN JOHN KEATS’S ODES

Introduction of John Keats:

John Keats was born on 31^st October 1795, and died in February 1821. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets. John Keats lived only twenty five years and four months, yet his poetic achievement is extraordinary. His writing career lasted a little more than five years (1814-1820), and two of his great odes- “Ode to Nightingale”, “Ode on a Grecian urn”.

In “Ode to Nightingale” and “Ode to a Grecian urn”, Keats tries to free himself from the world of change by identifying with the Nightingale representing nature, and the urn representing art. These odes, as well as “The ode to psyche”, present the poet as dreamer.

The deeper force of the Greek spirit led him from his early romantic formlessness to the achievement of the most exquisite classical perfection of form and finish. His Romantic glow and emotion never fade or cool, but such poems as the odes to the Nightingale and to a Grecian urn, and the fragment of ‘Hyperion’ are absolutely flawless and satisfying in structure and expression.

Here I define Greek myth in, Ode to Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian urn, and ode to psyche.

 

  ODE TO NIGHTINGALE:

The only place that the word “Nightingale” even appears is in the title, but the nightingale and its rich, intoxicating nighttime world are at the center of the poem. As Keats imagines it, this bird lives in its own reality within the enchanting forest. In poetic terms, the nightingale has important connection to mythology that we discuss below. But the most important thing to keep in mind is that it represents a kind of carefree existence that is free from the burdens of time, death, and human concerns. The importance of the nightingale stems from its appearance in Greek myth. Since this is a poem inspired by a Greek form, it is fitting that there are several other allusions to the mythology and culture of ancient Greece in this poem.

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 The nightingale is a symbol of beauty, immortality, and freedom from the world’s troubles. Nightingales are known for singing in the nighttime, hence the name. In Greek and Roman myth, the nightingale also alludes to the Philomel (Philomela).

The story of Philomela in myth:

Philomel (Philomela) is a minor figure in Greek mythology and is frequently invoked as a direct and figurative symbol in literary, artistic, and musical works in the Western canon. She is identified as being the “princess of Athens” and the younger of two daughters of Pandion 1, King of Athens and Zeuxippe. Her sister, Procne, was the wife of king Tereus of Thrace. While the myth has several variations, the general depiction is that Philomela, after being raped and mutilated by her sister’s husband, Tereus, obtains her revenge and is transformed into a nightingale (lusciniamegarhynchos), a migratorypasserinebird native to Europe and southwest Asia noted for its song.  According to Ovid, in the fifth year of Procne’s marriage to Tereus, King of Thrace and son of Ares, she asked her husband to “let me at Athens my dear sister see/ or let her come to Thrace, and visit me.” Indulging his wife’s request, Tereus agreed to travel to Athens and escort Philomela, his wife’s sister, to Thrace. King Pandion of Athens, the father of Philomela and Procne, was apprehensive about letting his only remaining daughter leave his home and protection and asks Tereus to protect her as if he were her father. Tereus agrees. However, Tereus lusted for Philomela when he first saw her, and that grew during the course of the return voyage to Thrace. Arriving in Thrace, he forced her to a cabin or lodges in the woods and raped her. After the assault, Tereus threatened her and advised her to keep silent. Philomela was defiant and angered Tereus. In his rage, he was incited to cut out her tongue. Whose tongue was cut out to prevent her from telling about her rape, and who was later turned into a nightingale by the gods to help her escape from death at the hands of her rapist.

Line: 4 – or emptied some dull opiate to the drains

               One minute past, and Lethe- words had sunk:

In the extended simile of lines 3-4, opium causes the speaker to lose memory and consciousness. “Lethe” alludes to a river in the Greek afterworld, Hades. Those who drank from it lost their memory.

Line: 7 – That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees

This line contains another allusion, or reference to another text. In Greek mythology, a “dryad” is a female spirit attached to a tree.

                                                                                                      

Line: 16 – Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,

In Greek myth, “Hippocrene,” was the name of a spring that the winged horse Pegasus created by stamping its hoof into the ground. Drinking from it was supposed to give poetic inspiration the drink is personified as “blushing” because of its red color.

Line: 32 – Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,

Bacchus is the Greek god of wine and drunkenness. In this allusive metaphor, the speaker claims that his escape into the nightingale’s world will not be due to drunkenness.

Line: 61 – Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird!

Many readers have criticized the speaker for believing (mistakely, of course) that the nightingale is immortal. But we think this is just an example of hyperbole’ or intentional exaggeration to make a point. The point is that it is the nightingale’s song that echoes through history and outlives each individual bird.

ODE ON A GRECIAN URN

The poem consists of a person talking to kind of fancy Greek pot known as an “urn” that was made of marble. Keats would have been able to see many urns from Ancient Greece at the British Museum, the world’s biggest archeological treasure-trove. (The northern Europeans plundered the Greeks’ ancient artifacts, and some might joke that now the Greeks are taking revenge by blowing up the European economy…) Urns are known not only for their sleek, beautiful shape but also for the quality of the pictures that were often painted on their sides. Most of the poem centers on the story told in the images carved on the side of one particular urn. He wrote “Ode on a Grecian urn” about an imaginary urn and three images he sees on it. The scenes are about revelry and sex, a piper and a lover’s pursuit of a fair maid, and a sacrificial ritual. All the scenes depict some form of human emotion, particularly love and desire.

Keats uses a lot of imagery from Greek culture to illustrate the importance of beauty. In the first stanza, he speaks of the places in Greece known for their beauty and serenity.

ODE TO PSYCHE

The Myth of Psyche:-

In Greek myth, Psyche was a princess whom cupid, the son of Venus, Fell in love with. Fearing his mother’s jealousy of her beauty, he visited her only at night, in total darkness. In one version of the myth she was a snake; in any event, to discover who and what he was, she looked at him one night after he had fallen asleep. When oil dripping from her lamp awoke him, he fled. Psyche searched for him, enduring much suffering. As a reward for her devotion and the hardships she had undergone, she was made immortal and reunited with cupid.

Why did this myth attract Keats?

All classical allusions enabled Keats to universalize his poetry, connected the poet’s concerns with images and stories which had gathered in meaning over the centuries; classical tales represented their own kind of permanence; they were widely understood and seen to be symbolic by Keats’s readers. The classical age was also seen as a time of simplicity where feeling and thought, spirituality and sensuality were united.