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English Literature / Unit 13   ENL 1221 short lesson, about 20 seconds

"Ode to a Nightingale"

Captions available

The idea

"Ode to a Nightingale" opens, "My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains / My sense." The speaker longs to fade into the bird's world, admits "I have been half in love with easeful Death," then the word "Forlorn" tolls him back, ending, "Do I wake or sleep?"

In practice

Escape toward the song, then return.

Where people slip

The ode ends in uncertainty.

Your place on the trail

Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.

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