Ode to a Grecian Urn

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Ode to a Grecian Urn

In the early 19th century it was not unusual to make a work of art,

painting or sculpture a subject of a poem. Taken literally, the poem

'Ode to a Grecian Urn' is a poem about a vase, but Keats has inverted

the traditional understanding of physical, tangible objects and

transformed them into metaphors for abstract concepts, such as truth

and time. An urn is primarily used to preserve the ashes of the dead.

The theme of the Ode, accordingly, has to do with the relationship

between imagination and actuality, and the supremacy and immortality

of a work of art if compared to our ordinary life. With the masterful

use of the device of figurative language, Keats has created a melodic,

beautifully flowing poem which well serves the purpose he gives it.

Keats himself can be assumed to be the speaker, the overall setting is

unknown. The tone of the poem reflects the fact that Keats seems truly

awed and astonished by the urn he considers. The poem is written in

ten-line iambic pentameter throughout, which creates a flowing

rhythmic effect. The rhyme scheme is unusual, but Keats breaks the

form with this five-part poem. The rhyme pattern is A - B - A - B - C

- D - E - D - C - E.

There is apattern of interwoven paradoxes which persist throughout the

Ode, contributing to its unity of thought and the development of its

main theme (that the Urn has managed to achieve immortality). The

first stanza sets the pattern of paradoxes that runs throughout the

poem. Firstly in its structure, it is split into two sections - the

first four lines are a series of apostrophes, personifying the urn,

and addressing it in its special association to silence and time, and

the last six are a series of questions.

...

... middle of paper ...

...self from the urn to consider

its overall significance in relation to human life and passion.

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty" sums up the relationships described

throughout the poem.

In the poem "Ode On a Grecian Urn", the poet John Keats uses language

and the object of his poem to link abstract actions and concepts to

physical, real, concrete things, in many different ways. Using iambic

pentameter, and a unique rhyme scheme, Keats' sets up a harmonious,

delightfully fluid poem which well serves the purpose he gives it. The

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" squarely confronts the truth that art is not

"natural," like leaves on a tree, but artificial.

Bibliography

Romantic Writings: An Anthology (1998) Oxford University Press

Abrahams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms (1998) Thomas Learning

Stephen Bygrave (ed.), Romantic Writings (1996) Open University

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