Quote Techniques and Analysis

Question 1

“No, no, go not to Lethe”

Answer 1

• Emotive language

- Keats strongly believes that we should not seek to forget when experiencing melancholy

Question 2

“Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss’d by nightshade”

Answer 2

• Personification
• Even though death may seem sweet and beautiful when experiencing melancholy, it is important to not commit suicide. Keats also warns us that we should not try to relieve ourselves of the pain that melancholy brings either

Question 3

“Make not your rosary of yew-berries”

Answer 3

• Biblical allusion
• When praying, do not pray for bad things or more importantly death. This biblical allusion links nature to religion in an example of pantheism. Pantheism explained that god was in everything and all things were as divine as god, meaning that melancholy and joy are both as divine as each other and are both as divine as god

Question 4

“This lime-tree bower my prison!”

Answer 4

• Paradox

- The Romantics believed the natural world to resemble freedom, however Coleridge believes that it is his prison

Question 5

“Flings arching like a bridge”

Answer 5

• Simile
• The tree is a part of the journey itself and implies that nature wants Coleridge’s friends to embark on the journey. The tree acts as a pathway to nature.

Question 6

“Heaven” and “Steepled-tracts”

Answer 6

• Biblical allusion
• Coleridge describes the sky as “Heaven” and the hills as “Steepled-tracts”. This links nature to religion and describes the environment as divine. It also highlights how amazing Coleridge believes this journey is. It is an example of pantheism that elevates the status of the natural world and highlights is divine healing power

Question 7

“Glut thy sorrow on a morning rose”
“Rainbow of the salt-sand wave”
“Globed peonies”

Answer 7

• Visual imagery
• Keats tells us that when experiencing melancholy we should look for the beauty in the natural world. This highlights the healing force of nature.

Question 8

“In the very temple of Delight veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine”

Answer 8

• Personification
• Keats personifies delight and melancholy by capitalising them. This elevates their status. He has also feminised melancholy in order to make it seem gently and beautiful.

Question 9

“Have I not mark’d much that has sooth’d me”

Answer 9

• Epiphany / Personification
• Coleridge notices that there are many wonders in the garden that he is sitting in which soothe his frustration about not being able to go on the hike, highlighting the divine healing power of the natural world

Question 10

“Nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure”

Answer 10

• Personification

- Those who are wise enough to appreciate nature will be able to find its beauty anywhere

Question 11

“‘Tis well to be bereft of promised good”

Answer 11

• Paradox
• this paradox demonstrates how sometimes it is good to be deprived of good things that you were expecting. This allows you to appreciate the good things in life, similarly to Keats’ ‘Ode on Melancholy’ which expresses that in order to fully appreciate joy, one must experience melancholy