John Keats', "Ode on Melancholy," urges the reader to embrace emotional pain so that one can better experience happiness. This idea seems inherent, but often forgotten. How can someone know good feelings if they never experience bad ones. The first stanza challenges the reader,

Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;

The stronger the emotion on one spectrum, it will be equally strong at the other end, for every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In the second stanza, Keats shows that this idea is true of nature as well as man using the metaphor of, "weeping," rain clouds bringing flowers. Closing the poem, Keats turns his attention to a woman, talking about fleeting beauty and compares this with short lived joy. However, without the pains and tribulations of love, it will never last. Without melancholy, there will be no joy. Keats offers an analysis of the inherent opposites in life and how a delicate balancing act achieves nature's plan for us all.