Keats Questions – Dennis

CPIV

1. What is the form of Keats’s poem “Ode to a Nightingale”? Explain your

answer.

2. What word or phrase best describes the speaker’s attitude toward death in
“Ode to a
Nightingale”? How do you know? Cite one or two details from the poem to
support
your answer.

3. What word makes Keats return to reality in “Ode to a Nightingale”? Why is

this
word so important to the poem as a whole?

4. What can you surmise about Keats’s theories of art by reading “Ode on a
Grecian
Urn”?

5. How does Keats feel about the unknown? What are his attitudes about
places he
has never visited, things he has not seen, or the mysteries of the world?
Write an
essay in which you cite examples from all four of the poems. Judging by the
way
Keats presents the unknown and the mysterious in his works, draw
conclusions
about how he might have felt when anticipating his own untimely death.

6. Keats deals with the concepts of mortality and immortality throughout the
four
poems. Write an essay about the significance of mortality and/or immortality
in
each of the poems, using examples from the texts. Judging from these
examples
and from what you know about his life, why do you think he might have
considered
these ideas important?

7. Use the Venn diagram below to record similarities and differences

between “Ode to
a Nightingale” and “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Which poem contains the most
striking imagery, in your opinion? Briefly explain
your choice.