Page "Ode to a Nightingale" Paragraph 7

When it came to vowel forms, Keats incorporated a pattern of alternating historically " short " and " long " vowel sounds in his ode.

In particular, line 18 (" And purple-stained mouth ") has the historical pattern of " short " followed by " long " followed by " short " and followed by " long ".

This alteration is continued in longer lines, including line 31 (" Away!

away!

for I will fly to thee ") which contains five pairs of alternations.

However, other lines, such as line 3 (" Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains ") rely on a pattern of five " short " vowels followed by " long " vowel and " short " vowel pairings until it ends with a " long " vowel.

These are not the only combination patterns present, and there are patterns of two " short " vowels followed by a " long " vowel in other lines, including 12, 22, and 59, which are repeated twice and then followed up with two sets of " short " vowel and then " long " vowel pairs.

This reliance on vowel sounds is not unique to this ode, but is common to Keats's other 1789 odes and his Eve of St. Agnes.