Why does Keats seek out the company of a common bird and record the experience in the form of an "ode"?

Keats chose to write an ode to the Nightingale as a way of escaping into nature and leaving his sorrows behind as well as becoming more at one with nature. He uses the art of poetry as a release and consequently is more calm and relaxed and more able to enjoy his experience with the Nightingale and the beauties of nature. Keats records his experience in the form of an ode because odes typically have a meditative and melodic nature. This quality almost has a trance-like effect on the reader and allows them to become absorbed within the ode.

How is "Ode to a Nightingale" representative of the romantic spirit and how does the content of the two stanzas support your claim?

The Romantic period was about focusing and becoming representative of the beauty that is nature. Romanticists believed that total absorption in nature would heal and would say to themselves "I feel, therefore I am". In Romantic art, it wasn't so much about clear shapes and definition as it was about colour and elegance. Too is the same with "Ode to a Nightingale" where Keats uses metaphors and many other devices to represent his connection with nature. Through their uses, Keats has been able to create such a divine and beautiful experience from a simple representative of nature.

How does the content of the 2 stanzas support your claims in the first 2 questions?

Keats uses rhetorical devices to achieve the purpose of his poem which is to feel more at one with nature. The use of rhetorical questions such as "Was it a vision, or a waking dream? and "do I wake or sleep?" in the final stanza acts as a way of engaging the reader and asking them to critique. It forces the reader to think about the beauties of nature and their effects. The addition of diction in "embalm'd darkness" gives a stimulating visual and forces the reader to take notice of the words and scrutize their meanings within the ode. Keats introduces metaphors such as "Where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes, or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow", which emphasizes and reflects the beauty of nature that he wishes to impose on the reader and himself as well as demonstrating the brillance of Keat's as an author. Keat's has also effectively created constant fluidity and grace through alliterations as a reflection of how both are ever-present in nature. Phrases such as "Singest of summer"and "many a mused rhyme" are used to demonstrate the movement and organic presence of nature.