There lies at the heart of this project a question: Why would I, a techno-savy (albiet, quite handsome) student with a penchant for Heartless Corporations and ironic revolution ever want to read about a poem whose main focus is a bird written in the early 1800's?
The answer to that confusing and egotisitcal question is at the very heart of this Romantic Poem by Keats; It is the love of escape and the admiration of the truly mystic and beautiful that tempted me into loving this poem. Allow me to explain.
The Poem begins with Keats quite obviously feeling a little ill. However, in this illness, Keats is granting the reader a single respite; the "light Winged Dryad of the Trees", who is "singing... in full throated ease". Already the reader is given an emotion to feel: hope. Before presenting us with scenery or plot, we know of hope; the idea that, though I feel sick, I can hear this voice who is not sick, who is well, and who is apparently quite happy; it is this escape into hope that I focus on.
My interest comes in the form of a metaphor: Imagine you are coming home from work on a late day. Boss yelled at you, that girl turned you down for the saturday night date you had planned. When you come home, waiting for you is that little ray of hope, a wonderful pass time that seemingly can fill you with mysticism, one that cares not for the world outside, that only cares that it 'sings', and sings loudly. Of course, I refer to Interactive electronic Media, otherwise known as "Video Games".
The Next stanza has the author likening this feeling to fine wine, and alot of it if the line "Purple Stained mouth" is anything to be read. Again, the author has engaged the reader with an emotion that is not acutely defined; the feeling of being drunk, of shedding away the layers of reality to something more pure. I still believe it is of note that the author has yet to engage sight in this poem; In fact, the only traditional sense we have yet to encounter is hearing the song, which is not an active sense, but instead a passive one ( as in, the ear did not activley listen for a sound, a sound just happened). It is the final two lines that I latch on to: That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:
Leaving the world unseen is not that uncommon a connection with someone familiar with the internet or, more specifically, Games in generally. The Next stanza says that the author wishes he could stay here forever, far away from a world that will eventually die (" Where youth grows pale", ' Where beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes"). In games, much like this bird ( later described as "Immortal", "Not born for death") the characters never age, and stand stalwart against the flow of time, only made old by the technology that runs them (which can even further be avoided, with the use of software emulation). Keats describes this sensation of otherworldly-ness in stanza's four and five, with Stanza six returning to his more philisophical thoughts of this experience. He says: 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!
Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain—
Here, Keats is essentially saying "It doesn't get better than this. My god, I am happy, I am fufilled, and look, you are still singing, and I still want to listen."
The seventh stanza tells us this sensation is new: indeed, in my twisted perversion of the classic, escape into games has been something that humanity, indeed all life, has carried with it throughout the ages. To be more specific on humanity, he mentions "Faery Lands" in which this similar adventure has taken place. Nursery rhymes, stories for children, video games, movies; they all take place in these "Faery Lands", fictional bodies that exist only in our minds.
The final stanza, we see the character being called back to the real world ( perhaps he has class? Or a Project to work on?) and the wonderful escape must end, knowing that although it is a wonderful and convincing escape, it is not real ("the fancy cannot cheat so well"). However, Keats leaves with the line: Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:—do I wake or sleep?
This line finishes the poem with a wonderful philisophical question. Despite the fact that all of this seemed fanatical, does it make it any less important? Any less real? Dreams are supposed to reveal much about our character; if that is true, what does this merry romp reveal about us? What does it reveal bout our personalities if, in a virtual game, we consistently play a healer, a traditionally subordinate but helping role? Or a Bold Warrior? Or a cloak-and-dagger rogueish character? Or outlandish hunter? Keats leaves us with a mirror; an examination of ourselves through ourselves. "Fled is that music"- though the happy times are gone..."Do I wake or Sleep?" was it some dream, some virtual character, or simply a reflection of me that accomplished those goals?
Regarding Formatting Choices: I chose to "translate" the poem into three different forms; One, english. Two, Binary coding. And three, "1337-2p34|<" (pronounced, "Leet-Speek"). I chose binary for two reasons: One, when the robots take over, I feel they should be able to enjoy a good selection of human poetry. But more importantly, I wanted to show a work of art boiled down to it's truest, most base of digital forms. In this sense, I looked to the past for the machine-language binary. looking forward, I used 1337-speak to show the "updated" classic; this is not to be confused with translating into "modern" english, but instead, a Postmodern, digital english where numbers and symbols are easily turned into readable letters ( while it does take getting used to, it is purely a isse of symbols: how different, really, is a K versus a |<, or an O to an 0?). You'll find they translate with all the original formatting and links correctly. The Images are also reflecting their unique formatting: The english is a simple Gif, the Binary is done through colored binary coding, and the 1337-speak is done through ASCII art.
Regarding the LOLcat: Dr Jones has seriously underestimated my ability to meet challenges presented to me.
