John Keats’s writing style is consistent of vivid, life-like imagery embodying many literal devices. But, what stands out is his theory of negative capability which plays a vital role in his odes. The crucial part of negative capability is not about being doubtful, hesitant, or about making confusing arguments. It is about encouraging compassion, understanding, and most importantly thinking outside of the box, outside their comfort zone.
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To begin with, in his ode, “Ode to a Nightingale”, Keats uses the theory of “negative capability” to detach himself, his illness and the reflection of mortality by identifying with the bird in the ode. In the first stanza, the poet contrasts his illness and mortality, “heart aches” … “drowsy numbness pains”, and suggests that the bird’s melody brings the joy of summer, “singest of summer in full-throated ease”. The poet also expresses his desire to enter into the bird’s mind and be as happy and joyful as the bird. To “… drink, and leave the world unseen, and thee fade away into the forest dim”, meaning to run away from reality. In the following stanzas he combines his knowledge with the imagery that is evoked by the beauty of nightingale’s melody, contrasting it with his own world, full of darkness. What we can understand so far is that Keats “is using the word ‘negative’ not in a pejorative sense, but to convey the idea that a person’s potential can be defined by what he or she does not possess – in this case a need to be clever, a determination to work everything out. Essential to literary achievement, Keats argues, is a certain passivity, a willingness to let what is mysterious or doubtful remain just that.” “Ode on a Grecian Urn” presents another poem in which Keats uses “negative capability”. There are a lot of things, ideas, happening in this poem, nature of permanence, eternity, choice, art, love, all of these sorts of things. But the set up is simple, the basic idea is that there is this urn, vase like, with a picture, painting on it. That is the Grecian Urn. The beginning, “Thous still unravish’d bride of quietness, thou foster-child of silence and slow time”. The first stanza is like a walk through, describing the urn, it is in a sense and there is the woman on it “unravish’d bride of quietness”. One of the basic idea here is that an art work in any art work is basically a frozen moment in time that lasts forever and in that there is something terrifying and heroin that there is this kind of permanence that is going on that is frightful in a sense because it never stops and than in this permanence there is both something awesome, and beautiful, and amazing because it goes on forever but at the same time that is terrifying. In the following stanzas of the poem the idea of permanence is more pronounced. The idea here is that there is music in the picture, somebody is basically playing some kind of instrument but that music, that melody, will never be heard. This silent song is going to be going on forever “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;”. In the other stanzas Keats talks about the “unravish’d bride” and the bold lover. How he is so close to kissing her, he is right there but he will never be able to do it. The idea of constant anticipation which is common of art. Which brings us to the last two lines of the poem “beauty is truth, truth beauty,-that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” Making a direct link between what is beauty and what is truth and saying that they are in a sense equivalent and where u see beauty that is where u see truth and where u see truth u see beauty.
To conclude, “Ode to a Nightingale” and “Ode on a Grecian Urn” give us an example to what “negative capability” illustrates. In order to achieve “negative capability” the poet most thing outside of the box and come outside of his comfort zone so he can give up his identity and go into the realm of imagination which is what negative capability is all about.
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