1、 Introduction

This article introduces the close connection between the poetic form of "Ode" and music, and explores the emphasis on sensory perception by the British Romantic poet Keats in his poetry creation, especially his unique musical aesthetic in his ode. The line in Keats' "Ode to an Ancient Greek Urn" that reads "The melody heard is as sweet as ever, but the unseen/sweeter" reflects his exploration of "hidden musicality", a concept that may have originated from the works of the ancient Roman historian Suetonius. Keats' poetic philosophy emphasizes the aesthetics of sound, which triggers auditory perception through imagery in poetry, and then triggers the comprehensive participation of other senses, constructing a unique system of sound cognition and aesthetic appreciation. The aim is to explore how Keats' aesthetic system of sound is constructed, operated, and how it influences readers' interpretation of his poetry, using the sound imagery in "Ode to the Nightingale" and "Ode to an Ancient Greek Urn" as examples for analysis.

2、 Auditory perception at the level of speech

The sound aesthetics in Keats' "Ode to the Nightingale" and "Ode to an Ancient Greek Urn" are based on their unique poetic rhyme structure and the combination of English syllables and meanings. These two works utilize the rhythmic characteristics of the anti yangge in English prosody and the special phenomenon of English phonetics to directly stimulate the auditory system, achieving a dual expression of sound effects and meaning. The rhythm of the first stanza of "Ode to the Nightingale" is similar to that of a sonnet, and the structure of the entire poem combines Shakespearean and Petrarch style sonnets to create a unique beauty. Keats added new metronomes to his hymns by adjusting the number of steps and rhyme patterns, based on the five tone cadence. For example, in "Ode to the Nightingale," he changed the five tone cadence to a three tone cadence, and in "Ode to an Ancient Greek Urn," he changed the rhyme to create a strange auditory effect.

3、 Listening at the level of reading

Keats, in "Ode to the Nightingale" and "Ode to an Ancient Greek Urn," expresses his profound understanding of the beauty of sound through the second level of sound aesthetics, which is to create a world of sound in the reader's mind. He creates sound associations for readers while reading through two methods: directly describing the sound producing object and visualizing the sound. In "Ode to the Nightingale", Keats praises the beautiful singing of the nightingale, describing the scene of the nightingale singing among the green trees in detail, making readers feel as if they hear the nightingale's song. At the same time, he uses vocabulary such as "voice," "hear," "heart," and "song" to strengthen auditory connections, and uses montage techniques to allow readers to experience the emotional impact of nightingale sounds across time and space. In "Ode to an Ancient Greek Urn", Keats uses the form of artistic expression to focus on the relationship between sound and vision. He depicts the scene on the ancient urn in detail, making readers feel as if they are in ancient Greece, while using visual means to create a sense of illusory reality and stimulate readers' auditory perception. Keats links the inaudible flute sound with imagination and soul, and through visually induced auditory sensations, allows readers to experience a mysterious combination of movement and stillness, gaze and listen in the scene of characters reveling on the ancient urn. This method of closely combining visual and auditory senses is an important principle of Keats' aesthetic appreciation of sound, reflecting his unique artistic pursuit of seeking harmony in contradictions.

4、 Auditory imagination that transcends time and space

Explored how Keats transcended sensory limitations through imagination and achieved transcendent perception of sound in his works "Ode to the Nightingale" and "Ode to an Ancient Greek Urn". Keats' aesthetic of sound is reflected on three levels: firstly, perceiving the "sound of silence" through imagination, that is, feeling the existence of sound through the heart without actual sound; Secondly, through the dialogue between imagination and death, such as in "Ode to the Nightingale," Keats depicted the connection between the nightingale's singing and death, allowing readers to experience a transcendent aesthetic of sound; Finally, Keats uses his imagination to reconstruct the sounds of history, allowing readers to experience the sound and context of history through poetry. The perception of these sounds does not rely on the auditory organ, but is achieved through imagination, demonstrating Keats' profound understanding and expression of sound aesthetics.

5、 Conclusion

Explored the aesthetic of sound in Keats' poetry, pointing out that its musicality is not only reflected in the acoustic aspect, but also extends to the senses and imagination. Keats uses physical sound as a medium to resonate with readers, conveying the "heard" sound while guiding visual and other senses to participate in poetry interpretation, emitting the "inaudible" sound. Through the combination of imagination, Keats integrated these two sounds into the 'echo chamber in the brain', constructing a complete sound aesthetic system and enhancing the theme of poetry. This aesthetic reminds us that the world of perception is limited, the unknown world is infinite, and the human spiritual world is vast and diverse.