Ode on Melancholy - Keats

John Keats was a great poet of Romantic period he has inked a number of odes but ‘Ode on Melancholy’ is the most remarkable one. The poet starts this poem with a precious and priceless advice to the seekers of true melancholy. He advises them what they should not do to achieve real and solid melancholy. The poet says that; ‘No, no, go not to Lethe.’ When one drinks the water of rival Lethe (the river of forgetfulness) one’s senses are benumbed. One’s soul becomes senseless and lifeless.it becomes impossible to enjoy the full force of melancholy in such conditions. According to Keats, it is a creative process which enables someone to creates something extra ordinary. So, the poet advises the melancholy seekers to make fullest use of melancholy so that they may create something extra ordinary. In the very first stanza, Keats says;   “No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist, Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine, Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd, ...