In Awe of the Ode

John Keats' career as a poet was brief, yet powerful. The young man presented a profound reverence towards the world within his works of literature. As a student, Keats' early pieces were not well accepted as they were associated with radical ideals and introduced uncharted forms of poetic verse. As the poet grew older and underwent more life experiences his poetry developed rapidly into an assembly of masterpieces. His odes to the world around him were far less controversial than Shelley's pieces but contained many similarity in the praise of nature and complex description of simple observations. Keats was ultimately a romantic that sought after what could not be, creating beauty out of the ordinary.
In his piece, "Ode to the Nightingale," Keats uses basic end rhyme to establish a rhythm for his song of appreciation. He produces a very descriptive piece, using adjectives and adverbs to describe every aspect of the scene thoroughly. Keats places variation within the rhyme scheme in several places in order to amend the pace and tone of each descriptive aspect. The author creates imagery through implements of color variation and specific word repetition. He also conveys biblical and monarchic allusions and personifies nature. Finally, Keats alludes to his personal illness and the envy he holds towards the nightingale's perfection.
The author continues this envious tone for immortality and perfection in his piece, "Ode on a Grecian Urn." Here Keats describes his analysis of a urn that adorns a painted scene. He does so by using adjectives of the naturalistic context and a rhyme scheme that consists of both end and internal rhyme. Keats implements a good amount of rhetoric questions and repetition in order to present a somewhat pleading, or desperate cry for conclusive enlightenment from the urn. Just as in the previous piece, Keats seems to be envious of the urn's tranquil permanence in respect to human life. This repeated theme ultimately indicates the writer's sorrow over his own circumstances of mortality.