This ode was written in spring 1819, between mid-March and early June. On 19 March Keats wrote of his ‘sort of temper indolent’ in a letter to his brother George and sister-in-law Georgiana. And on 9 June, he told one Miss Jeffrey that ‘the thing I have most enjoyed this year has been writing an ode to Indolence’. The ode was first published in 1848.<\/p>\n
In the letter to George and Georgiana, Keats described his indolence: ‘This is the only happiness; and is a rare instance of advantage in the body overpowering the Mind.’ The ode itself is the least well-known of the six great odes of 1819. Most critics consider it the least accomplished of the group.<\/p>\n
The epigraph is from Matthew 6:28.<\/p>\n
‘They toil not, neither do they spin.’
\nOne morn before me were three figures seen,
\nWith bowed necks, and joined hands, side-faced;
\nAnd one behind the other stepp’d serene,
\nIn placid sandals, and in white robes graced:
\nThey pass’d, like figures on a marble urn,
\nWhen shifted round to see the other side;
\nThey came again; as when the urn once more
\nIs shifted round, the first seen shades return;
\nAnd they were strange to me, as may betide
\nWith vases, to one deep in Phidian lore.<\/p>\n
How is it, shadows, that I knew ye not?
\nHow came ye muffled in so hush a masque?
\nWas it a silent deep-disguised plot
\nTo steal away, and leave without a task
\nMy idle days? Ripe was the drowsy hour;
\nThe blissful cloud of summer-indolence
\nBenumb’d my eyes; my pulse grew less and less;
\nPain had no sting, and pleasure’s wreath no flower.
\nO, why did ye not melt, and leave my sense
\nUnhaunted quite of all but – nothingness?<\/p>\n
A third time pass’d they by, and, passing, turn’d
\nEach one the face a moment whiles to me;
\nThen faded, and to follow them I burn’d
\nAnd ached for wings, because I knew the three:
\nThe first was a fair maid, and Love her name;
\nThe second was Ambition, pale of cheek,
\nAnd ever watchful with fatigued eye;
\nThe last, whom I love more, the more of blame
\nIs heap’d upon her, maiden most unmeek, –
\nI knew to be my demon Poesy.<\/p>\n
They faded, and, forsooth! I wanted wings:
\nO folly! What is Love? and where is it?
\nAnd for that poor Ambition – it springs
\nFrom a man’s little heart’s short fever-fit;
\nFor Poesy! – no, – she has not a joy, –
\nAt least for me, – so sweet as drowsy noons,
\nAnd evenings steep’d in honied indolence;
\nO, for an age so shelter’d from annoy,
\nThat I may never know how change the moons,
\nOr hear the voice of busy common-sense!<\/p>\n
A third time came they by: – alas! wherefore?
\nMy sleep had been embroider’d with dim dreams;
\nMy soul had been a lawn besprinkled o’er
\nWith flowers, and stirring shades, and baffled beams:
\nThe morn was clouded, but no shower fell,
\nThough in her lids hung the sweet tears of May;
\nThe open casement press’d a new-leaved vine,
\nLet in the budding warmth and throstle’s lay;
\nO shadows! ’twas a time to bid farewell!
\nUpon your skirts had fallen no tears of mine.<\/p>\n
So, ye three ghosts, adieu! Ye cannot raise
\nMy head cool-bedded in the flowery grass;
\nFor I would not be dieted with praise,
\nA pet-lamb in a sentimental farce!
\nFade softly from my eyes, and be once more
\nIn masque-like figures on the dreary urn;
\nFarewell! I yet have visions for the night,
\nAnd for the day faint visions there is store;
\nVanish, ye phantoms, from my idle spright,
\nInto the clouds, and never more return!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summary This ode was written in spring 1819, between mid-March and early June. On 19 March Keats wrote of his ‘sort of temper indolent’ in a letter to his brother George and sister-in-law Georgiana. And on 9 June, he told one Miss Jeffrey that ‘the thing I have most enjoyed this year has been writing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishhistory.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}