Sunday, February 13, 2011

Poem of the Week: "Ode to a Nightingale," by John Keats

On Friday, I was driving down a country road in north-central Indiana and I passed through a town with quite possibly the most awesome name ever: Hemlock. It's just a tiny place with maybe one business, a church and some houses, but that name is seriously badass. I have the feeling this town is named after the harmless tree and not the super-deadly poisonous plant/best friend of suicidal romantics. Either way, as I drove through this sleepy place, all I could think of was the second line of Keats's famous "Ode to a Nightingale." "As though of hemlock I had drunk," indeed.

Ode to a Nightingale, by John Keats


Note: This same stretch of road also introduced me to even smaller towns with names like Phlox and Point Isabel. I even passed a sign pointing me in the direction of a Windfall, Indiana. Seriously, don't you want to live in Windfall, Indiana?!

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