The nightingale described within the poem experience a type of death but do not actually die . Instead , the songbird is capable of living through its song , which is a fate that humans cannot expect . The poem end with an acceptance that pleasure cannot last and that death is an inevitable part of life . In the poem , Keats imagine the loss of the physical world and see himself dead — as a " sod " over which the nightingale sings . The contrast between the immortal nightingale and mortal man sitting in his garden , is made all the more acute by an effort of the imagination . The presence of weather is noticeable in the poem , as spring came early in 1819 , bringing nightingales all over the heath .