CC - IX: Explanation( "O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been/cooled a long age in the deep-delved earth,/Tasting of Flora and the country green, /Dance, and Provencal song, and sum-burnt mirth!".) of John Keat's "Ode to Nightingale"

"O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been 

cooled a long age in the deep-delved earth,

Tasting of Flora and the country green,

Dance, and Provencal song, and sum-burnt mirth!".

                These lines are extracted from the second stanza of John Keats' poem "Ode to a Nightingale". Here, the poet experiences his intense yearning for escape into the world of imagination and sensuousness through the artificial stimulation of wine.

                    The poet aspires to the bird's ecstasy, and to achieve this he wishes for a drink of wine which, he thinks, would lift him out of his own self. In other words, he wants to get rid of his unhappiness of real-world. It is noticeable that no ordinary wine will serve his propose. He wants for that kind of wine which has been cooled and strengthened by keeping it in the deep underground ("deep-delved earth") for many years('a long age'). Obviously, here is an indication of the poets longing for permanence of joy. In other words, in wishing for a 'draught of vintage'(suggesting age and excellence) the poet really seeks an courage in a timeless state of existence. Moreover, the fragrance of flowers, the luxuriance of spring ('Flora' being the goddess of flower and spring), dance, Provencal song (referring to the mediaeval troubadours of South France) and the conviviality of simple country people who lived close to nature ('sun-burnt mirth')are, as it were, distilled into the rich essence of the wine that the poet prays for. His desired to start earthly ties here gets LinkedIn sharing the richness and unselfconscious character of communal life which is in sharp contrast to the morbidity generated by self rumination.

                    In these lines, the desire to forget earthly realities and life in a state as perpetual trance is replaced by an eagerness to participate in the lives of these simple country-folk and share their mirth, and thereby, the Prayer for self- annihilation receives a new orientation.