Ode on Melancholy

In “Ode on Melancholy,” one of the five odes John Keats wrote in the summer of 1819, Keats explores the nature of sorrow, shedding light on one of the more shadowy corners of the human condition and discovering unexpected sources of joy. As the poem unfolds, Keats’s speaker grapples with his melancholic state, seeking relief and understanding. In the first stanza, he wards off the deadly allure of suicide. In the second stanza, he discovers that the appreciation of beauty is the proper response, for a sense of melancholy reminds one of the transience of beautiful things. In the final stanza, the speakers comes to realize that “Melancholy has her sovran shrine” in “the very temple of Delight.” In his beautiful, surprising language and rich classical imagery, Keats reveals how sorrow and joy are forever inseparable.