An Ode to a Grecian Urn by John Keats John Keats's poem "An Ode to a Grecian Urn", is written encompassing both life and art. Keats uses a Grecian urn as a symbol of life. He refers to the Greek piece of art as being immortal, with its messages told in endless time. Walter J. Bate explains that the Sisobas Vase that Keats traced at the home of his artist friend Haydon, the Townly Vase at the British Museum, or the Borghese Vase in the Louvre, are suggested by scholars to possibly be the ones that Keats had in mind while writing his poem (510-511). Being that Keats had quite a respectable knowledge of Greek art, it is also quite possible that he had no particular vase in mind at all. Outside of that, our chief concern is the meaning of the poem itself. As author Jack Stillinger proposes, "the speaker in a romantic period begins in the real world, takes off in mental flight to visit the ideal then returns home to the real." However, because of his experiences during flight, he never returns to where he began and will be, however slight, forever changed (3). The purpose of this paper is to primarily focus on the first stanza. In the first line of the poem, "Thou still unravished bride of quietness," (1), Keats refers to the urn as the unravished bride, or a thing of beauty, but not just simply pleasing to the eye. It is a bride of silence, or so it may seem. Later, we read that the "silent bride" had recorded annals to deliver. As Patterson explains, "he suggests its changeless ungenerative descent through the ages; it does not reproduce itself and transmits itself and it's meaning directly" (49). As Douglas Bush points out, Keats begins with an "inanimate anonymous artifact which in itself can be called immorta... ... middle of paper ... ...y. The controversy being: Is this brilliance of a failure. "Although the line, 'beauty is truth and truth beauty…' is nonetheless a brilliant failure… I believe that the poet tries to say too much" (64-65). Patterson observes that 'it was simply written different than "To Autumn" and "Ode to a Nightengale." It lacks the even finish and extreme perfection." But is much superior in other qualities. "In fact, the Ode to a Grecian Urn may deserve to rank first in the group [of Odes] if viewed in something approaching its true complexity and human wisdom" (56-57). In the closing line, "beauty is truth, truth beauty (49), it summarizes the whole intellectual content of the poem. The beauty of the urn has preserved life of Greece and passed it on in truth. Keats inspiration of Greek art has been interbred with life. The poem is a hybrid of life and Greek art.
In the text Bishop states, “The monument is one-third set against/ a sea; two thirds against a sky.” (line 18) It is suggested that the monument is one with nature. The narrator goes on to state, “A sea of narrow, horizontal boards/lies out behind our lonely monument,/its long grains alternating right and left/like floor-boards--spotted, swarming-still,/and motionless.” Here the author personifies the monument by describing it as “swarming-still”. The phrase swarming-still is contradictory because an object cannot move and be still at the same time. The narrator personifies the monument as to express its life-like qualities. The location of the monument is never stated. A second voice joins the poem and questions the location of their presence, “‘Where are we? Are we in Asia Minor,/ Or in Mongolia?’” (line 33) Without knowledge on the location of the monument it is difficult to know what it means. The narrator ponders on what the monuments purpose is, “An ancient promontory,/ an ancient principality whose artist-prince/ might have wanted to build a monument/ to mark a tomb or boundary, or make/ a melancholy or romantic scene of it…” (line 35) The narrator herself is unsure of who created the monument or why. This pushes the audience to develop their own perceptions as the narrator brainstorms about its significance. A voice separate from the narrator states, “‘But that queer sea looks made of wood,/half-shining,like a driftwood sea./And the sky looks wooden, grained with cloud./ It’s like a stage-set; it is all so flat!/Those clouds are full of glistening splinters!/What is that?’”(line 40) This voice questions the scenery surrounding the monument. The narrator states that, “It is the monument” This implies that the narrator perceives the surrounding environment to be part of the monument itself. Another voice says, “‘Why did you bring me here to see
John Keats’s illness caused him to write about his unfulfillment as a writer. In an analysis of Keats’s works, Cody Brotter states that Keats’s poems are “conscious of itself as the poem[s] of a poet.” The poems are written in the context of Keats tragically short and painful life. In his ...
Under the immediate assumption that Ozymandias is the sculptor of the barren statues, one must realize that even kings cannot contain their passions and emotions. Ozymandias erected a statue of his destress where none could see it and without habitation for miles. Leaving these statues behind, the sculptor is given a chance to reveal to others the underlying sadness of his soul. "[Passions read] Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them". Though the sculptor has left the mortal world, his soul remains for all passers-by to see. He/She is attempting to force others into his/her realm of pain just by seeing his/her creation. This poem causes havoc upon the mind of the reader as they think of utter desolation.
Keats’ poetry explores many issues and themes, accompanied by language and technique that clearly demonstrates the romantic era. His poems ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ and ‘Bright Star’ examine themes such as mortality and idealism of love. Mortality were common themes that were presented in these poems as Keats’ has used his imagination in order to touch each of the five senses. He also explores the idea that the nightingale’s song allows Keats to travel in a world of beauty. Keats draws from mythology and christianity to further develop these ideas. Keats’ wrote ‘Ode To A Nightingale’ as an immortal bird’s song that enabled him to escape reality and live only to admire the beauty of nature around him. ‘Bright Star’ also discusses the immortal as Keats shows a sense of yearning to be like a star in it’s steadfast abilities. The visual representation reveal these ideas as each image reflects Keats’ obsession with nature and how through this mindset he was able
Symbols like "The church bells toll a melancholy round" and "That fresh flowers will grow" present a rather humorous sense of irony in the poem. Here he is talking about "gloominess" and "More hearkening to the sermon's horrid sound" when he throws in melancholy round bells and fresh flowers, that is irony at its best. I find it funny that he describes how church rips you away form fireside joys and lydian airs and that the mind of man must be bound in some black spell and yet to start of the poem he uses a positive note, "The church bells toll a melancholy round", and to help end it he uses a positive note, "That fresh flower will grow". Both of these quotes seem out of place considering how Keats has described other things in his poem but that is what makes them
White, Keith D. John Keats And The Loss Of Romantic Innocence.(Costerus NS 107). Minneapolis: Rodopi BV Editions, 1996. Print.
It has been acknowledged by many scholars that Yeats' study of Blake greatly influenced his poetic expression. This gives rise to the widely held assertion that Yeats is indebted to Blake. While I concur with this assertion, I feel that the perhaps greater debt is Blake's.
Keats, through his use of sensual imagery, draws readers into the real world where there will ultimately be decay and death. The sound devices in this stanza further develop the sensual imagery and... ... middle of paper ... ... ecian Urn”, “To Autumn” takes place in the real world and does not mention immortality. In “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, Keats attempts to grasp the apparent immortality of the urn he is observing.
From the very title we find that this “Ode” is different. It is the “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” as opposed to “Ode to a Nightingale,” or “Ode to Psyche.” The word “on” provides a little more interpretive flexibility. On one hand, the word on can be taken to mean “about” or “concerning,” suggesting that this is an ode about a Grecian Urn. This is in fact true. However, it can also suggest that this ode is taking place quite literally on the Grecian Urn—the ode itself would therefore not be Keats’ own poetry, but the actual Urn. This interpretation is backed up by in Stanza I. when Keats calls the Urn “Sylvan historian, who canst thus express / A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme” (lines 3-4). The urn can express the tale more sweetly because it presents the ode without the passage of time. Thus all the paintings are forever frozen and ever becoming, and any fulfillment would betray potential.
How is Bloom’s theory of influence connected to Keats and his ‘Ode on a Grecian urn’? As indicated by its title, Keats’s poem and Keats himself was influenced by Greek culture, which is confirmed in a further reading of the poem, when Keats mentions Arcadia and gods in the following lines: In Tempe or the dales of Arcady/ What men or gods are these?. It is generally known that Greek religion was based on polytheism and Arcadia is the province of Ancient Greece, in which were localized scenes from many pastoral poems.
This hermeneutics requires…the [portrayal of] poetry as an instrument of deception—secreting the personal sources of insight while nevertheless seeing the world entirely in terms of those sources” (338). The poet’s impetus for writing was—and forever is—her own, and is locked beyond our understanding. Thus there is no one absolute, definitive reason why any poem is the way that it
Examining the definition of “ode,” there is a strong connection between song and poetry—an ode being “a poem intended to be sung or one written in a form originally used for sung performance”--, and within both poems the inspiration of each narrator is described in terms of creating poems meant to be sung. Essentially, Keats’s poem plays with the concept of the poetic form of an ode on a couple of different levels. Firstly, the nightingale, in stark contrast to the narrator’s feelings of despair, is presented as a “light-winged Dyrad of the trees, / In some melodious plot / … Singest of summer in full-throated ease” (“Ode to a Nightingale 7-8, 10). By introducing the nightingale in this manner, and by referring to it twice with musical adjectives—referencing its “melodious plot” and how the bird “singest of summer”—establishes this element of song as the focal point of the nightingale. Similarly, the goddess Psyche is first introduced by means of song, as the narrator begins “Ode to Psyche” by singing, and asking her to hear “these tuneless number” (Ode to Psyche 1) and to “pardon thy secrets should be sung” (3). The musical references to Psych continue in the third stanza, as the narrator laments the inclusion of Psyche into the Greek pantheon, he reveals
...storal” (45, p.1848). The urn’s eternity only exists artistically and does not reflect human life because only the urn “shou remain” forever (47, p.1848). Keats contrasts the ephemeral nature of human life with the longevity of the urn. In last two lines, Keats declares, “beauty is truth, truth beauty” (29, p.1848) embodying both sides of his perspective. By establishing a relationship between beauty and truth, Keats acknowledges that like truth, the beauty of the Grecian urn is unchangeable and that the ability accept reality is beautiful.
Through these expressions the artist has succeeded in portraying the inner character of the king. " And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read" As well, Shelley as an artist has succeeded in drawing a contrast between the past glory of Ramses II and the present condition of his statue lying half buried in the sand. This account gives us a contrast between longevity of art and temporary human life. The poem of John Keats also celebrates the greatness of art which eternalises the transient moment of beauty found in the world.
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" discuses the idea of immortality in a picture, and how if a moment is captured on an urn then does it exist always? It seems the theme of this poem came from a phrase of Leonardo DiVinci: "Cosa bella mortal passa e non d'arte." Translated, this means mortal beauties pass away, but not those of art. "Ah, happy, happy boughs! That cannot shed your leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu." Keats uses personification in this example to make the tree branches seem like they are happy and enjoying the situation. In the third stanza the word "forever" is repeated: "And, happy melodist, unwearied. Forever piping songs forever new. More happy love, more happy, happy love. Forever warm and still to be enjoyed. Forever panting, and forever young." This repitition is done to draw attention to the word forever which makes the reader appreciate the true meaning of the poem, which is the debate over immortality and death and what immortality means.