He is constantly in search of the freedom that the nightingale sings so elegantly. The bird's song of freedom symbolizes pure joy, showing that it is oblivious to the real world which Keats describes as "weariness, fever and worry" (line 23). Keats also longs to free his soul from its troubles by “imagining” himself in the nightingale’s world of beauty and eternity. Furthermore, he is in deep despair and longs to disappear “among the leaves he never knew” to forget all his burdens (line 22). As the poem progresses, it explores many ways to reach the nightingale. However, he realizes that he must inevitably face reality: it is not possible to disappear with a nightingale: “Farewell! fantasy cannot cheat so well” (line 73). He admits that using his imagination to trick (imagine) his way to the nightingale world is not so effective. He's not sure if he's ever entered her world, which leads to multiple rhetorical questions he asks himself: Am I asleep or awake? Have I returned to the “real” world? Maybe the nightingale world is reality and the “real” world is just a