Ode to a Nightingale: Stanza 2 - Summary

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O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been

Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,

Tasting of Flora and the country green,

Dance, and Provencal song, and sunburnt mirth!

O for a beaker full of the warm south,

Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,

With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,

And purple-stained mouth;

That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,

And with thee fade away into the forest dim—

Summary

      Lines 11—14. O for a draught of vintage.....and sunburnt mirth. Keats here expresses a desire to drink a wine that has been stored and cooled for a long time deep under the earth. He thinks of a wine that will remind him of flowers which have been used in its making. It will also remind him of the green vegetation of the countryside and of the dancing, music, merrymaking, feasting, of the sun-burnt peasants of Provence which is known for its fun, jollity, and wines. In short, he wants a wine brewed in Provence which is famous for wines as Scotland is famous for whisky.

      Lines 15—20. O for a beaker.....the forest dim. The poet longs for a cup of wine of the warm southern region. He would like to drink the genuine, red-colored wine which flows from the fountain of the Muses. It would delight him to have a goblet full of sparkling wine which will redden his mouth and lips when he drinks it. He asks for these wines so that he might drink these and forgetting the world completely, escape into the dim forest and join the nightingale.