Of Keats's six major odes of 1819, " Ode to Psyche", was probably written first and " To Autumn" written last. Some time between these two, he wrote "Ode to a Nightingale". [3] It is possible that "Ode to a Nightingale" was written between 26 April and 18 May 1819, based on weather conditions and similarities between images in the poem and those in a letter sent to Fanny Brawne on May Day. The poem was composed at the Hampstead house Keats shared with Brown, possibly while sitting beneath a plum tree in the garden. [4] According to Keats' friend Brown, Keats finished the ode in just one morning: "In the spring of 1819 a nightingale had built her nest near my house. Keats felt a tranquil and continual joy in her song; and one morning he took his chair from the breakfast-table to the grass-plot under a plum-tree, where he sat for two or three hours. When he came into the house, I perceived he had some scraps of paper in his hand, and these he was quietly thrusting behind the books. On inquiry, I found those scraps, four or five in number, contained his poetic feelings on the song of the nightingale." [5] Brown's account is personal, as he claimed the poem was directly influenced by his house and preserved by his own doing. However, Keats relied on both his own imagination and other literature as sources for his depiction of the nightingale. [6]

Shippey, Thomas (1970), "Listening to the Nightingale", Comparative Literature, Duke University Press, XXII (1): 46–60, doi: 10.2307/1769299, JSTOR 1769299 The national survey of Nightingales organised by BTO in 1999 estimated the population at 6,700 (5,600-9,400) males, a marked range contraction since the previous survey in 1980, but only an 8% overall population decline ( Wilson et al. 2002. Atlas surveys in 2008-11 found a 43% reduction in occupied 10-km squares since 1968-72, with withdrawal especially from western parts of the range ( Balmer et al. 2013). Results from the most recent Nightingale Survey across Britain in 2012-13 indicated that further decrease has occurred since 1999, with 12 population estimates ranging from 5,094 to 5,938 territorial males ( Hewson et al. 2017). Unlike previous estimates, the 2012-13 estimates also accounted for detectability, so the decline since 1999 is believed to be higher than the figures suggest. In 1976, over 71% of males were associated with woodland, especially coppice and young plantations, but by 2012 this had decreased to 37% and 55% of territories were then in scrub ( Hayhow et al. 2015). A delicate creature with an incredible voice that is symbolic of the human spirit. Here’s what the presence of these intuitive birds means. Mystery The beauty of the nightingale's song is a theme in Hans Christian Andersen's story " The Nightingale" from 1843. [29] Prominently appearing in William Shakespeare‘s popular tragic love story, Romeo and Juliet, the common nightingale was symbolic of love itself:

John Keats' " Ode to a Nightingale" (1819) was described by Edmund Clarence Stedman as "one of our shorter English lyrics that still seems to me... the nearest to perfection, the one I would surrender last of all" [27] and by Algernon Charles Swinburne as "one of the final masterpieces of human work in all time and for all ages". [28] in German) Wink, Michael (1973): " Die Verbreitung der Nachtigall ( Luscinia megarhynchos) im Rheinland". Charadrius 9(2/3): 65-80. (PDF) Philomele - Never, as long as I have the words to expose you. The truth, men and women of Thrace, the truth -- The nightingale is often referred to as an immortal bird because it is said to never stop singing. The nightingale’s voice is immortal because all nightingales produce the same beautiful, haunting sound. This is symbolic of the hope and transformation that the nightingale represents. The nightingale’s song is said to be full of life and hope, even in the darkest of times. Why does the nightingale sing at night? Niobe - The one alive who cannot speak, that one has truly lost all power. --- This shows male dominance as Niobe is discussing that silencing Philomele has took any power she had left away from her

Midway through the poem, there is a split between the two actions of the poem: the first attempts to identify with the nightingale and its song, and the second discusses the convergence of the past with the future while experiencing the present. This second theme is reminiscent of Keats's view of human progression through the Mansion of Many Apartments and how man develops from experiencing and wanting only pleasure to understanding truth as a mixture of both pleasure and pain. The Elysian fields and the nightingale's song in the first half of the poem represent the pleasurable moments that overwhelm the individual like a drug. However, the experience does not last forever, and the body is left desiring it until the narrator feels helpless without the pleasure. Instead of embracing the coming truth, the narrator clings to poetry to hide from the loss of pleasure. Poetry does not bring about the pleasure that the narrator originally asks for, but it does liberate him from his desire for only pleasure. [26] In October 2011, Opera Australia produced the opera at the Sydney Opera House with Emma Matthews (Philomele), Anke Höppner (Procne), Elizabeth Campbell (Niobe), Richard Anderson (Tereus), the composer conducting. [4] [5] Roles [ edit ] Roles, voice types, premiere cast Role As they may have developed the courage to fly and thrive in other parts of the world, they teach us to leave all our negativities behind and migrate to a more productive and meaningful life. Nightingale symbolism in Buddhism With this theme of a loss of pleasure and inevitable death, the poem, according to Claude Finney, describes "the inadequacy of the romantic escape from the world of reality to the world of ideal beauty". [31] Earl Wasserman essentially agrees with Finney, but he extended his summation of the poem to incorporate the themes of Keats's Mansion of Many Apartments when he says, "the core of the poem is the search for the mystery, the unsuccessful quest for light within its darkness" and this "leads only to an increasing darkness, or a growing recognition of how impenetrable the mystery is to mortals." [32] With these views in mind, the poem recalls Keats's earlier view of pleasure and an optimistic view of poetry found within his earlier poems, especially Sleep and Poetry, and rejects them. [33] This loss of pleasure and incorporation of death imagery lends the poem a dark air, which connects "Ode to a Nightingale" with Keats' other poems that discuss the demonic nature of poetic imagination, including Lamia. [34] In the poem, Keats imagines the loss of the physical world and sees himself dead—he uses an abrupt, almost brutal word for it—as a "sod" over which the nightingale sings. The contrast between the immortal nightingale and mortal man, sitting in his garden, is made all the more acute by an effort of the imagination. [35] Reception [ edit ]

Where to see nightingales in the UK

Walker, Stuart (2012). "The Object of Nightingales: Design Values for a Meaningful Material Culture". Design and Culture. 4 (2): 149–170. doi: 10.2752/175470812X13281948975459. S2CID 145281245. Keats uses the senses heavily in all his poetry, relying on synaesthetic descriptions to draw the reader into ‘Ode to a Nightingale’. It works especially well here because Keats’ fantasy world is dark and sensuous, and he ‘cannot see what flowers are at my feet’; he is ‘in embalmed darkness’. The darkness may have helped his imagination to flourish and furnish his ideal creation, as well as lending a supernatural air to ‘Ode to a Nightingale’.