 The " Ode on Indolence " is one of five odes composed by English poet John Keats in the spring of 1819 . The others were " Ode on a Grecian Urn " , " Ode on Melancholy " , " Ode to a Nightingale " and " Ode to Psyche " . The poem describes the state of indolence , otherwise known as <unk> , and was written during a time when he felt that he should devote his efforts to earning an income instead of composing poetry . After finishing the spring poems , Keats wrote in June 1819 that its composition brought him more pleasure than anything else he had written that year . Unlike the other odes he wrote that year , " Ode on Indolence " was not published until 1848 , 27 years after his death . 
