“Ode on a Grecian Urn”: An Analysis of Paradoxes and Controversy

Renowned poet of the Romantic era, John Keats, is known for his thought provoking poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. Within this poem, Keats analyzes an urn depicting various scenes from history. While Keats contemplation of the beauty of the urn is apparent throughout the work, there is a particular stanza that is particularly noteworthy. The fifth, and final, stanza of Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” states,

“O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede

Of marble men and maidens overwrought

With forest branches and the trodden weed;

Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought

As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’s

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,”—that is all

Ye know on earth and all ye need to know” (Greenblatt, lines 41-50).

This specific stanza is exceedingly significant due to the purpose it serves of bringing Keats’ contemplations on eternity and mortality through the urn to a final resolution, the way in which the final stanza serves to exemplify the harmony of pleasure and pain found throughout Keats’ poem, as well as the controversial nature surrounding the many interpretations of the final couplet of the stanza.

Throughout his poem, Keats’ utilizes the use of paradoxes to illustrate his reflections on eternity and mortality. In the second stanza of the poem Keats states “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/Are sweeter; therefore ye soft pipes, play on” (Greenblatt lines 11-12). In presenting this paradox of the heard and unheard, Keats is implying the silent music from the instruments depicted on the urn is far more pleasant than the discernible music from a real instrument due to the p...

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... In “Ode on Grecian Urn”, Keats contemplates the various forms of eternity and the concept of mortality through the visions depicted on an urn. The fifth, and final, stanza of the poem states,

“O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede

Of marble men and maidens overwrought

With forest branches and the trodden weed;

Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought

As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’s

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,”—that is all

Ye know on earth and all ye need to know” (Greenblatt, lines 41-50).

This stanza is the most notable stanza of Keats’ poem due to its ability to bring Keats’ reflections on various forms of eternity and mortality through the urn to a resolution, as well as provide the controversial final couplet