Reading Analysis

John Keats’ “Ode on Melancholy” was originally published with the following stanza at the beginning:

Though you should build a bark of dead men’s bones,
And rear a phantom gibbet for a mast,
Stitch creeds together for a sail, with groans
To fill it out, bloodstained and aghast;
Although your rudder be a Dragon’s tail,
Long sever’d, yet still hard with agony,
Your cordage large uprootings from the skull
Of bald Medusa; certes you would fail
To find the Melancholy, whether she
Dreameth in any isle of Lethe dull.

Why do you think Keats removed it?

Answer the question in a longish paragraph (roughly 300 words). Support your argument with evidence from the text or texts. This can be quoted evidence, or you can simply refer to significant events, descriptive passages or statements made by the speaker or characters. Try to write as densely and thoughtfully as you can. You will be graded on the thoughtfulness of your analysis.