In Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale, He was tired of hearing people groan about the miseries of life. He sees the nightingale very similarly to our friend, the Labrador; we talked about in class today. He says,
“And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Fade far away, dissolve, and quite forget
What thou among the leaves hast never known …” (Lines 20-24)
Here where men sit and hear each other groan,”
Keats wished to escape human consciousness and go back to child-like innocence. He longed to be like the nightingale, careless and free— without need to groan about life.
But wait, isn’t groaning a part of life? Doesn’t suffering teach us, though it is painful? If you never had anything to groan about wouldn’t life seem a little tainted, a little too good to be true? According to Wordsworth the nightingale and the Labrador have not experienced life fully. In Tintern Abbey, Wordsworth says,
“To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still, sad music of humanity…
A motion and spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things…”
P. S. I commented on Callie's post.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about ultimately gaining understanding through suffering. When I really think about it, the situations that have had the biggest impact on my life are the ones that I considered to be the most painful. Sure, in the middle of these times, I wanted nothing more than to be happy and carefree, but eventually I over came and was made stronger because of it. Some of the people closest to me in life are my friends because they were there for me during difficult times. My relationship with my family is stronger because of troubles we have had to face together. I'm not sure a life without suffering is really a life at all. How can one possibly understand happiness if he hasn't felt pain?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you about the man wanting to be like the nightingale. The man seems to want to experience the whole "ignorance is bliss" concept like the nightingale. He wants to go through life singing his song without hearing the groans of his fellow men. I also agree with Wordsworth. Sometimes we need suffering to help us grow to be the people that we need to be.
ReplyDeleteI agree that suffering is a way of life and that all humans grow from it, however that doesn't mean that complaining should always accompany the suffering. Just look at the Israelites in the Bible! God punishes them many times for groaning about their situation. I don't think that going through trying times is bad, in fact they are what help a person grow as Jamie stated above. However, if someone spends all of their time complaining, they won't learn anything. I sometimes get tired of people complaining too, like Keats did. On the other hand, when I speak with someone who is going through a horrendous even but still smiling and praising God I give them a ton of respect
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