The poem Ode to a Nightingale by "John Keats" uses the symbol of a nightingale to mirror inevitable death through haunting detail and direct personification, to enlighten the reader that although the bird may never die death is a journey every man must embark upon.
Haunting detail portrays itself most clearly in the third stanza, "where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies." Keats does not focus the death on old people, but rather challenges the reader to look beyond the obvious faces of death and see the young grow old and die. Another example of the haunting detail seen in this play is in stanza 4, "though the dull brain perplexes and retards." The tone can also be inferred through Keats detail. Keats employs words such as: "drowsy numbness pains", "darkness", "decieving", "cheat","fade", and "death." The shift in tone takes place in stanza 7, "Thou wast not born for death-immortal bird!" It is at this point where the bitterness the reader feels is activley portrayed. he envies the bird for never having to encounter death. However, it is ironic because throughout the poem when the Nightingale is narrarating, the bird makes it clear that, "here there is no light, save what Heaven is through the breezes blown. Through this discriptive imagery Keats intentionally throws death in the readers face that cannot be avoided.
Keats highlights the power of death by pointing out that not even the personified "love" or "beauty" can conquer death. Keats writes, "where Beauty cannot keep her lustrious eyes, or new Love pine at them beyond tomorrow." He goes onto descirbe life as a "fast fading violet." Throught personification of two very powerful emotions and descriptions, Keats underscores his point that not even supernatural entities can perserve life now.