I just read a poem!

[whatifeye]

Of Keats’ Ode to a Nightingale I can only say: wow. I mean, the poem was built up about as much as a poem can be in that preface by the authors, as “it and the ‘Grecian Urn’ have been discussed as fully as any two lyrics in the English language.” That tidbit, plus the constantly repeating suggestion that Keats ranks with Milton and my own personal favorite, Shakespeare, should have damned this poem from the start. In general, I don’t like things which were built up too much; the glowing descriptions of so many friends and reviewers begin to become redundant, and I imagine something so spectacular it, well, defies imagination. Then I get around to reading/watching/listening to it and my expectations are unfulfilled. Then, of course, there’s that remarkable exception. As Robert Graves put it, “The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, despite all the people who say he is very good.” I live for these works.

Damn I love English.