Trace the evolution of thought in John Keats' poem, "Ode to Nightingale."Keats thoughts in "Ode to a Nightingale"

With regard to John Keats' poem, "Ode to a Nightingale,"
and the author's evolution of thought, he begins the poem by stating that he feels as if
he is under the influence of a drug: hemlock or an opiate that has served to make him
drowsy. In this state, he speaks to the beauty of the nightingale's
song.

That
thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees, 
In some melodious plot 
Of
beechen green and shadows numberless, 
Singest of summer in full-throated
ease.

In stanza two, Keats
wishes for a brew of nature:

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O, for a draught of vintage!...
With
beaded bubbles winking at the brim, 
And purple-stained mouth; 
That
I might drink, and leave the world unseen, 
And with thee fade away into the
forest dim...

...may refer to
a pure and wonderful wine that would allow Keats to leave his world behind to join the
nightingale, wherever she is.

In the next stanza, the focus
of Keats' words turns to the life of humans: the world of sickness, groans and pain.
(This would have been a personal response to Keats' own terminal illness,
tuberculosis.)

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The weariness, the fever, and the
fret 
Here, where men sit and hear each other groan...
Where youth
grows pale, and spectre-thin, and
dies...

The next stanza
returns Keats' attention to the bird: he will not join it through liquor, but through
poesy (poetry) where they can approach the skies, illuminated by the moon and
stars.

In the following stanza, Keats cannot see, but he
sense the products of nature that surround him, praising
nature:

The
grass, the thicket, and the fruit-tree wild...
Fast fading violets cover'd up
in leaves; 
And mid-May's eldest child, 
The coming musk-rose, full
of dewy wine...

Stanza seven
speaks to the immortal nature of the bird, that has been heard for countless
generations, heard by emperors, as well as Ruth, the Biblical character who found
herself also alone, as Keats feels at that moment.

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The voice I hear this passing night was
heard 
In ancient days by emperor and clown: 
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 last stanza brings
Keats back to the reality of his situation:

Forlorn! the
very word is like a bell 
To toll me back from thee to my sole
self!...
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades... 
and now 'tis
buried deep 
In the next valley-glades...

And as
Keats leaves the world of the nightingale, he is saddened to come back to his existence
of illness and approaching death, he asks:

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Was it a vision, or a waking
dream? 
Fled is that music: - Do I wake or
sleep?

The evolution of
Keats' thoughts:

• the poem begins with the
  dream-like quality Keats experiences perceiving the
  nightingale.


• Keats wishes to join the bird somehow, while
  leaving the trials of his own world behind.


• Keats'
  thoughts turn to death and illness.


• His attention shifts
  again, as Keats decides to use poetry to capture the essence of the bird and join
  her.


• Then Keats praises nature, even that which he cannot
  see.


• He notes that the nightingale has been around
  throughout time.


• Finally, Keats knows he must leave the
  world of the bird, and return to his own place, and so he says his farewells to the bird
  who has brought him such joy and
  diversion.