Ode on Melancholy Themes
Sadness
Not to play Captain Obvious or anything, but the poem's called "Ode on Melancholy." So, yeppers, sadness is gonna play a big role. But this poem isn't about how to dispel melancholy or how to shake...
Death
No matter how you slice it, there's a lot of death in the "Ode on Melancholy." Flowers and beauty die, suicide is contemplated and rejected. This is a poem about melancholy, and what's a more melan...
Transience
One of the chief causes of sadness in "Ode on Melancholy" is the impermanence of beauty, pleasure, and life. All beauty fades, pleasure is fleeting, and we're all going to bite it someday. But at t...
Drugs and Alcohol
There are a lot of poisonous herbs, plants, and wines referenced in "Ode on Melancholy"—always with a big "JUST SAY NO" warning, though. We're not supposed to blunt the edge of our melancholy by...