Critical Analysis
Gerald Holt
English 216
Liberty University

Ode to a Lyrical Masterpiece
Introduction
Creative writing is seen by many as a way to free the expression of the mind, allowing anyone who feels the urge to put their thoughts on paper can do so. There are a large number of people who have lived throughout time that have had their legacy live forever through their writing because they were able to eloquently configure their thoughts in a manner to reach others. Writing in literature has stretched over many long periods since the beginning of time and that could easily be established by taking note that the Bible is the highest selling book of all time. The Bible may have not been written all at one time, but the majority of the works and its authors were mainly from the same time period. Writing has gone through different ages where the majority of writers had the same idea, or style of writing that they wanted to focus on. Some of the ages of writing that had a strong influence on literature as a whole were that of the neoclassical and romantic age of writing. One piece of literature in particular that has been the topic of many discussions is the “Ode to a Nightingale”. This piece of artwork has been under much scrutiny for its lyrical anatomy, and it has also received much praise for its elegance in form. This short poem has given the world of literature much to discuss all the way down to when it was actually written and how many pages it was originally written on.
Writing in Style
Ode to a Nightingale was a piece written by John Keats in May of 1819. Many readers could assume that because it was written in the month of may that the piece had many details letting the readers know that the weather was really good at that time. Keats could have been using the weather as a muse, so to speak, for this poem to go out and marvel in the beauty of nature. Taking this poem and getting a deeper look at it, a reader could notice that Keats wanted to portray a sense of elegance in nature that could be paralleled with the elegance in his writing. Many pieces of literature that were written in the romantic era of writing all play off of the theme of love. Love is such a strong feeling, and being able to play to that strength allowed for writers of the romantic age to go at it from many different angles and spectrums without having the same point as another writer. For the majority, writers will have the same style or format in much of their writing. Their writing though would not have the same style as another writer from another era.
The “Ode to a nightingale” begins with Keats explaining his deep heartache that he feels, and he matches it with the idea as to feel drunk or to be on a drug of some sort. This heartache he feels is not to be seen as him feeling depressed, but that he is happy with the melody of the nightingale. Keats heartache could almost be defined as a jealousy of some sort because later in the poem he begins to speak about how the nightingale is lucky to not have to deal with the daily struggles of a human being. Although the nightingale may have struggle in its lifetime, the nightingale will never be able to express the pain and anguish that it may feel in words. As a writer, Keats takes the available resources that he has with being able to outside and observe the nightingale in its habitat. There are other writers of the same age of writing who value what nature brings to writing, and that makes it possible for writers of the romantic age to use some of the same literary devices to create their pieces of work without making it seem that they were crossing over into other era’s or ages of writing.
Conclusion
In the modern age of technology, everything seems to be driven by the power of the smart phone or the next great laptop. Having all of these advancements in technology allows for those people who consider themselves to be effective writers have a bevy of great tools at their fingertips to be able to go back and research older writers who came before them. Being able to travels back in time, so to speak, gives writers today a much greater benefit to be able to convey their idea to the masses with the simple push of a button. Technological advancements give writers the opportunity to eliminate grammatical errors, and give a flow to their writing that makes their style easier to understand. Style is important in more things than just writing, so for John Keats to have a style of writing that is still viewed as eloquently crafted today shows that he was ahead of his times with his style of writing.

References
Ode to a Nightingale Poem - Summary & Analysis. (2015). Retrieved April 18, 2016, from http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/ode-to-a-nightingale/