By the last stanza he is 'coming down' from his vision. He discusses the word forlorn tolling him
back to his true self, a play on the imagery of a funeral bell in a small town,
a symbol of lament for death. The
"plaintive anthem" is fading; his connection to the bird is winding
down. There is significance that the
anthem is fading into nature:
Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
In the next
valley-glades:
Perhaps nature could be thought of as the source for the
anthem, and in that case it is returning to the source in the same way Keats
will eventually return to the source when he is buried in the earth. Or if there is a distinction between the
anthem and nature, the anthem is succumbing to nature, and this interpretation
gives nature a sense of power.
It ends with
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
Fled is that music:
- Do I wake or sleep?
At this point Keats is contemplating the meaning of what
he's just experienced. Maybe he is
contemplating the meaning/importance of what he's just experienced, or maybe
even if he should indulge in such fancies later on..."Do I wake or
sleep" is in the present tense; one could argue that he is deciding how to
view consciousness from this point forward having experienced 'the music.'
The last stanza wraps up his experience, and shows him
starting to wonder how to interpret this vision.
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