mythology This means the nightingale is a magical and timeless beauty of nature The song takes him away from the troubles of life and into a dreamlike state Similarly in Ode on Melancholy Keats explains that beauty and melancholy sadness are connected He believes that we feel sadness when we see something beautiful because we know it will not last For example he talks about the short-lived beauty of a morning rose Glut thy sorrow on a morning rose The rose is lovely but it will soon fade Keats suggests that sadness helps us appreciate beauty even more These images show how much Keats values the natural world Power of Imagination For Keats imagination is a way to escape the pain of reality In Ode to a Nightingale Keats describes the human world as a place of sadness and hardships People grow old suffer from sickness and experience sorrow For this reason Keats longs to leave the painful world of mankind He wants to join the nightingale in its eternal joyful world He wishes to escape through poetry He writes Away away for I will fly to thee On the viewless wings of Poesy However this escape does not last The nightingale flies away and leaves Keats behind to face the reality of the human world In Ode on a Grecian Urn Keats uses imagination to bring the scenes on the urn to life He describes the pictures such as the lovers about to kiss and villagers celebrating In this poem Keats s imagination allows him to connect with the beauty of art Emphasis on Emotions Romantic poets believed that emotions were more important than reason Keats s odes are filled with intense feelings In Ode to a Nightingale he feels both joy and sadness as he listens to the bird s song He writes My heart aches and a drowsy numbness pains My sense This mix of emotions shows the bittersweet nature of beauty and life In Ode on Melancholy Keats explores the idea that melancholy sadness and joy are closely connected He writes that Melancholy lives in the very temple of Delight For Keats experiencing beauty also means feeling sadness because beauty does not last forever Mortality Keats often reflects on the fleeting nature of life and the inevitability of death He contrasts the immortality of the bird s song with his own mortality Again he admires the timeless beauty of the urn but he also realizes that the people depicted on it are frozen and lifeless These reflections on mortality are a key part of Keats s Romantic vision For these reasons Keats is a true Romantic poet In his odes he celebrates beauty nature imagination and emotions while exploring the deeper truths of life Keats s poetry captures the essence of Romanticism