NO, no! go not to Lethe, neither twist .
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine; .
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kissed.
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine; .
Make not your rosary of yew-berries, 5.
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be .
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl .
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries; .
For shade to shade will come too drowsily, .
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul. 10.
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But when the melancholy fit shall fall .
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud, .
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all, .
And hides the green hill in an April shroud; .
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose, 15.
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave, .
Or on the wealth of globed peonies; .
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows, .
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave, .
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes. 20.
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She dwells with Beauty - Beauty that must die; .
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips .
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh, .
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips: .
Ay, in the very temple of Delight 25.
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine, .
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue .
Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine; .
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might, .
And be among her cloudy trophies hung. 30.
.
Analysis: John Keats "Ode On Melancholy".
John Keats, a Romantic poet, reveals in his lyric poem "Ode On Melancholy- a basic phenomenon: joy and delight is always accompanied by grief and melancholy.
Lyric poem means the poem is relatively short and there is one speaker expressing his thoughts and feelings. The poem is divided into three stanzas, each with ten lines. Furthermore the poem is an ode with moderate length and serious subject; Keats praises the melancholy in an elevated style.
Each of the ode's three stanzas has a message concerning one's exposure to melancholy.
The first stanza is an appeal to the reader not to contemn melancholy, we should welcome it.