John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” & “To Autumn”: An Ecocritical Inquiry

Abstract

This study investigates the representation of the natural world in John Keats’ odes: “Ode to a Nightingale” (1819) and “To Autumn” (1820) from an ecocritical lens. It analyses the poet’s understanding of both the value of developing a connection with nature and the ramifications of its deterioration during the Industrial Revolution, notably in Britain. Furthermore, this research investigates the significance of nature vis-à-vis the bond that may exist between it and Keats in his two odes. Moreover, this dissertation reveals Keats’ eco-consciousness exposing his mastery of fusing the natural elements with imagination to breach the physical boundaries existent between man and nature. As a result, this research highlights the strengths of imagination and the proclivities of escapism, which are a direct result of his past filled with tragedy and death, to reach his aims through the two poems. Finally, this study follows up Keats’ journey from frivolity to his quest for identification and self-realization. Indeed, nature permanently inspirits him for his love, veneration, adulation, and dedication leading him to his eventual maturity and later to his metaphorical death. Later on, Keats’ connection with nature is manifested again when he suffers for her pain and dies with her death