Page 323 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes The moon is surrounded by her attendants (“fays”), the stars. Despite all these sources of light,
there is no light in the nightingale’s world beyond what filters down through the trees.
What he is really describing in this complicated-sounding line is the fact that the nightingale lives
in the forest, where trees block the light. “Verdurous glooms,” just means the darkness that is caused
by plants getting in the way of the moon. Still, the nightingale’s home sounds like a magical place,
something out of a fairy tale.

Stanza 5 Summary

Lines 41-42
I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
The speaker remains in the nightingale’s nighttime world. Without light, the speaker can’t see the
flowers on the forest floor or the plants that produce that pleasant smell (“soft incense”) in the trees.

Lines 43-46
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows
The grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild;
White hawthorn, and the pastoral eglantine;
The speaker is still groping around in the dark, but he’s having fun. Because he can’t see, he has to
guess what “sweet” flowers and plants he smells, which depends on what month it is. It’s a delicious
guessing game.
The darkness is “embalmed,” where “balm” is a sweet-smelling substance like a perfume. He’s
guessing all kinds of different plants: “Grass!” “Fruit tree!” “Wait, wait, I know this one: white
hawthorn! No, it’s eglantine!” Or maybe he smells all of them at once, like a bouquet.

Lines 47-50
Fast fading violets cover’d up in leaves;
And mid-May’s eldest child,
The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
The speaker names more plants that he smells in the darkness. He also begins listing things that he
can hear. This section all relates to the experience of being alone in a dark – but not a frightening –
forest.
He sees violets, a summer flower, and the musk rose, a flower that blooms in May. The dew of the
musk rose is intoxicating, like the wine he spoke of earlier.
He hears the sound of flies on a summer evening. In short, he seems to experience both spring and
summer at the same time, which tells us that we have left the world of strict reality. As Dorothy
might say, we’re not in Kansas anymore.

Stanza 6 Summary
Lines 51-52
Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
I have been half in love with easeful Death,

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