“Ode on Indolence” Summary

“Ode on Indolence” Themes

• 

  The Virtues of Laziness

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• 

  Artistic Action vs. Contemplation

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Ode on Indolence”

• Lines 1-10

  One morn before me were three figures seen,
  With bowed necks, and joined hands, side-faced;
  And one behind the other stepp'd serene,
  In placid sandals, and in white robes graced:
  They pass'd, like figures on a marble Urn,
  When shifted round to see the other side;
  They came again; as when the Urn once more
  Is shifted round, the first seen Shades return;
  And they were strange to me, as may betide
  With Vases, to one deep in Phidian lore.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-15

  How is it, Shadows, that I knew ye not?
  How came ye muffled in so hush a Masque?
  Was it a silent deep-disguised plot
  To steal away, and leave without a task
  My idle days?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-20

  Ripe was the drowsy hour;
  The blissful cloud of summer-indolence
  Benumb'd my eyes; my pulse grew less and less;
  Pain had no sting, and pleasure's wreath no flower.
  O, why did ye not melt, and leave my sense
  Unhaunted quite of all but—nothingness?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-30

  A third time pass'd they by, and, passing, turn'd
  Each one the face a moment whiles to me;
  Then faded, and to follow them I burn'd
  And ached for wings, because I knew the three:
  The first was a fair Maid, and Love her name;
  The second was Ambition, pale of cheek,
  And ever watchful with fatigued eye;
  The last, whom I love more, the more of blame
  Is heap'd upon her, Maiden most unmeek,—
  I knew to be my demon Poesy.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 31-40

  They faded, and, forsooth! I wanted wings:
  O folly! What is love? and where is it?
  And for that poor Ambition—it springs
  From a man's little heart’s short fever-fit;
  For Poesy!—no,—she has not a joy,—
  At least for me,—so sweet as drowsy noons,
  And evenings steep'd in honied indolence;
  O, for an age so shelter'd from annoy,
  That I may never know how change the moons,
  Or hear the voice of busy common-sense!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 41-44

  And once more came they by;—alas! wherefore?
  My sleep had been embroider'd with dim dreams;
  My soul had been a lawn besprinkled o’er
  With flowers, and stirring shades, and baffled beams:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 45-50

  The morn was clouded, but no shower fell,
  Though in her lids hung the sweet tears of May;
  The open casement press'd a new-leaved vine,
  Let in the budding warmth and throstle's lay;
  O Shadows! 'twas a time to bid farewell!
  Upon your skirts had fallen no tears of mine.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 51-56

  So, ye three Ghosts, adieu! Ye cannot raise
  My head cool-bedded in the flowery grass;
  For I would not be dieted with praise,
  A pet-lamb in a sentimental Farce!
  Fade softly from my eyes, and be once more
  In masque-like figures on the dreamy Urn;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 57-60

  Farewell! I yet have visions for the night,
  And for the day faint visions there is store;
  Vanish, ye Phantoms, from my idle spright,
  Into the clouds, and never more return!

  

  

  

  

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“Ode on Indolence” Symbols

• 

  The View from the Window

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• 

  The Three Figures

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“Ode on Indolence” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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“Ode on Indolence” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• "They toil not, neither do they spin."
• Side-faced
• Placid
• Urn
• Shades
• May betide
• Phidian lore
• Ye
• Masque
• Deep-disguised
• Summer-indolence
• Benumb'd
• A moment whiles
• Unmeek
• My demon Poesy
• Forsooth
• Folly
• Fever-fit
• Steep'd in honied indolence
• Shelter'd from annoy
• Wherefore
• O'er
• Stirring shades and baffled beams
• Casement
• Throstle's lay
• 'Twas
• Cool-bedded
• Dieted
• A sentimental Farce
• Spright

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Ode on Indolence”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Ode on Indolence” Speaker

“Ode on Indolence” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Ode on Indolence”

More “Ode on Indolence” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Keats-Shelley Museum — Learn more about Keats through the museum housed in his final home in Italy.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a performance of the poem.

  • Keats's Legacy — Read five contemporary writers reflecting on what Keats means to them to honor the recent bicentenary of his death.

  • A Brief Biography — Learn more about Keats's life and work (and check out some of his manuscripts) at the British Library's website.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by John Keats

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  • Ode on Melancholy

  • Ode to a Nightingale

  • Ode to Psyche

  • On First Looking into Chapman's Homer

  • On Seeing the Elgin Marbles

  • On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again

  • On the Grasshopper and Cricket

  • On the Sea

  • The Eve of St. Agnes

  • This living hand, now warm and capable

  • To Autumn

  • To Sleep

  • When I have Fears That I May Cease to Be