Poetry Slam!: "Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats

In this celebrated Romantic poem, the speaker addresses a captivating songbird and explores transcendence, death, and immortality. Read the full text here.

Here is a link to our list for Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats.
30 words 67 learners

Learn words with Flashcards and other activities

Definition First
Print Flashcards

Other learning activities

Answer a few questions about each word. Use this to prep for your next quiz! Compete with other teams in real time to see who answers the most questions correctly! Test your spelling acumen. Read the definition, listen to the word and try spelling it!

Teaching tools

Create and assign quizzes to your students to test their vocabulary. Assign learning activities including Practice, Vocabulary Jams and Spelling Bees to your students, and monitor their progress in real-time.

Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. numbness
    partial or total lack of sensation in a part of the body
    My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
    My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
    Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
    One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk
  2. hemlock
    poison derived from a large biennial herb with white flowers
    My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
    My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
    Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
    One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk
  3. opiate
    a narcotic drug
    My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
    My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
    Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
    One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk
  4. melodious
    having a musical sound; especially a pleasing tune
    Thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees
    In some melodious plot
    Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
    Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
  5. draught
    a serving of drink (usually alcoholic) drawn from a keg
    O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
    Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth
    Tasting of Flora and the country green,
    Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
  6. vintage
    the oldness of wines
    O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
    Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth
    Tasting of Flora and the country green,
    Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
  7. delve
    turn up, loosen, or remove earth
    O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
    Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth
    Tasting of Flora and the country green,
    Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
  8. mirth
    great merriment
    O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
    Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,
    Tasting of Flora and the country green,
    Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
  9. beaker
    a cup (usually without a handle)
    O for a beaker full of the warm South,
    Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
    With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
    And purple-stained mouth
  10. specter
    a ghostly appearing figure
    Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs,
    Where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies
  11. lustrous
    reflecting light
    Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
    And leaden-eyed despairs,
    Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
    Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
  12. pine
    have a desire for something or someone who is not present
    Where but to think is to be full of sorrow
    And leaden-eyed despairs,
    Where Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes,
    Or new Love pine at them beyond to-morrow.
  13. verdure
    green foliage
    But here there is no light,
    Save what from heaven is with the breezes blown
    Through verdurous glooms and winding mossy ways.
  14. incense
    make furious
    I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
    Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs
  15. bough
    any of the larger branches of a tree
    I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
    Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs
  16. embalm
    preserve a dead body
    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
  17. endow
    give qualities or abilities to
    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
  18. thicket
    a dense growth of bushes
    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
  19. pastoral
    idyllically rustic
    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
  20. murmurous
    characterized by soft sounds
    And mid-May's eldest child,
    The coming musk-rose, full of dewy wine,
    The murmurous haunt of flies on summer eves.
  21. ecstasy
    a state of elated bliss
    Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
    To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
    While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
    In such an ecstasy!
  22. requiem
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
    To thy high requiem become a sod.
  23. tread
    put down, place, or press the foot
    No hungry generations tread thee down;
    The voice I hear this passing night was heard
    In ancient days by emperor and clown:
  24. casement
    a window framework that is hinged on one side
    Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
    Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
    She stood in tears amid the alien corn
    The same that oft-times hath
    Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
    Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
  25. perilous
    fraught with danger
    Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
    Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
    She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
    The same that oft-times hath
    Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
    Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
  26. forlorn
    marked by or showing hopelessness
    Perhaps the self-same song that found a path
    Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home,
    She stood in tears amid the alien corn;
    The same that oft-times hath
    Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam
    Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.
  27. toll
    ring slowly
    Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
    To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
  28. adieu
    a farewell remark
    Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
    As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
  29. fancy
    imagination, especially of a casual or whimsical kind
    Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
    As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
  30. plaintive
    expressing sorrow
    Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
    Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
    Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
    In the next valley-glades:
    Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Created on Thu Nov 16 09:59:13 EST 2017 (updated Tue Jun 08 10:41:06 EDT 2021)

Sign up now (it’s free!)

Whether you’re a teacher or a learner, Vocabulary.com can put you or your class on the path to systematic vocabulary improvement.