Finding Joy in the Simple Things

Excerpt from Ode on Melancholy

By John Keats

 But when the melancholy fit shall fall

       Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,

That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,

       And hides the green hill in an April shroud;

Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,

       Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,

               Or on the wealth of globed peonies;

Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,

       Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,

               And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.

 

To start off with I am not a reader of poetry because I have a hard time knowing what poets are trying to get across. From my point of view a good poet is one who can write a poem that is somewhat understandable the first time you read it. When you have to analyze it to death it takes away the joy that poetry can be. When I read Keats Ode to Melancholy I was immediately struck by his beautiful word usage, imagery, and his message. I chose the second stanza because it has a truly simplistic meaning. Keats wrote that when overwhelmed with an awful and seemingly inescapable sorrow look to the simple things in life.

Ode to Melancholy has beautiful imagery throughout the poem, but in the second stanza it is breathtaking. I happen to love flowers and when he wrote, “Or on the wealth of globed peonies” I saw a beautiful garden filled with peonies. For those who don’t what a peony looks like I found a photo that does them a great justice. Keats imagery is spectacular because he allows the human imagination to picture something beautiful without writing something obscure in elevated diction.

 

 

The first four lines of this stanza describe how sadness falls upon an individual. Keats uses nature to describe the feeling of melancholy. Even though he compares melancholy to a “weeping cloud” or a drooping flower which are two things that are not human like at all, I immediately understood the metaphor. I like everyone else have had those moments when life goes to heck in a hand basket and your world is gloomy and dark. All optimistic views are hidden from your sight. By taking Keats advice we can escape melancholy by looking for a tiny light at the end of the dark and gloomy tunnel.

Last fall I took a speech class in the morning and everyone in the class myself included often had the state of mind of, “I am tired and I do not want to be here!” So my professor would have us stand up and say, “I feel great!” about five times, each time getting louder. Though I felt completely silly doing this, saying the words, “I feel great!” helped change my tired and grumpy disposition to that of a still tired college student with a happier outlook on life.Keats poem does the same thing. Keats wrote, “Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose.” The word glut means an excessively abundant supply of something. A person can throw all the sorrow on the beauty around them. Whether it be on the beauty of the mountains or beauty of loved one it makes us feel better.

Keats poem calls us all to action. Instead wallowing in gloom and self-pity, find the beauty around us and focus all our attention on that thing. Eventually the fading light at the end of the tunnel will become a giant beam of light that nearly blinds you with joy. And all because you focused on the beautiful things of life. =)
 

To The River Otter- Taylor Coleridge

To The River Otter

By-Taylor Coleridge

 Dear native Brook! wild Streamlet of the West!

How many various-fated years have past,

What happy and what mournful hours, since last

I skimm'd the smooth thin stone along thy breast,

Numbering its light leaps! yet so deep imprest

Sink the sweet scenes of childhood, that mine eyes

I never shut amid the sunny ray,

But straight with all their tints thy waters rise,

Thy crossing plank, thy marge with willows grey,

And bedded sand that vein'd with various dyes

Gleam'd through thy bright transparence! On my way,

Visions of Childhood! oft have ye beguil'd

Lone manhood's cares, yet waking fondest sighs:

Ah! that once more I were a careless Child!

Analysis-

Coleridge’s poem To the River Otter speaks of a topic that we can all relate too. The main theme is how childhood memories can fill us with joy but also make us long for days where there were no worries or cares.

The speaker keeps a happy and reminiscing tone throughout the sonnet. Coleridge starts his poem by talking to the brook he used to skip stones on when he was a child. The first line grabs the reader’s attention because he uses not one but two phrases that end with an exclamation point. This caught my eye because in the poems we have read the poet rarely uses exclamation points. It adds drama and excitement to the poem. Coleridge portrays that it has been a long time since he saw his brook by asking, “How many various-fated years have past/ What happy and what mournful hours, since last” Since his last visit Coleridge like everyone else has grown up and had his share of happy and disappointing moments.  His few lines that talk about how he used to skip stones, reminds me of how I used to always climb my neighbors tree. Every time I pass by I think of all the scrapes and bruises and adventures I had on that tree with my sister and friends.

The next few lines describe Coleridge’s beloved brook. His word usage for colors caught my attention. When describing the colors he sees he uses words and phrases like, “tints”, “veined with various dyes”, “bright transparence!” I liked how he didn’t say the specific colors he saw because it allows the reader to imagine their own brook. He gives the reader the basis of the brook and we can then imagine the rest.

The last three lines of the poem bring Coleridge’s theme of the poem to full light, “Visions of Childhood! oft have ye beguil'd/Lone manhood's cares, yet waking fondest sighs:/Ah! that once more I were a careless Child!” Just today I recalled a memory I had of playing in a river with my cousins when I was small. The memory caused me to smile immediately as well as wishing I could have that moment again. Coleridge’s use of simple and descriptive language allows all of his readers to remember their own childhood spots and smile.