Oh, Tis' Beauty We Learn

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Recommended: John Keats works

John Keats, a second generation romantic, is regarded as one of the most influential poets of all time. Though his work was anything but sad or bleak, Keats led a life of many tragedies. At the age of 8, Keats’ father passed away and only 6 years later his mother died of tuberculosis. After studying to be a doctor Keats realized his true passion was in composing poetry and followed his dream, but through another series of unfortunate events his brother died of tuberculosis and he could not marry his romantic love because of his health and financial state. Fearing his life was coming to an end Keats spent most of his twenties writing many beautifully detailed poems which he expressed numerous truths of the world, before he died of tuberculosis at the young age of 26. John Keats’ death was a great loss to the literary world, but his legacy lives on partly in his work “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. This poetic work of art uses relation to ancient Greece through multiple characters to present situation, rigid structure to convey confidence in his ideas, word choice imagery and repetition to evoke emotion and set a tone, as well as contrast to highlight a theme in his work.

Through the title and the literature it is presumed that the poem has been based off of ancient Greece. Most obviously by the subject being a “Grecian Urn”, which was used in this sense as a form of artwork depicting a scene. Contributing to the style of ancient Greece, Keats also uses anachronistic diction which makes the poem appear older than those of its same 1820’s era. The situation is presented in two separate stories, that of the life of the speaker, and the life of the urn. The poem is told in the eyes of the speaker and therefore we follow his emotions throu...

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...asy, Keats understood the idea of “CarpeDiem” and used his days wisely. His keen eye for the beauty in detailed art, of all forms, now helps many others to understand the real beauty of life “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”, and now we know.

Works Cited

Bai, Dr. Ronnie. "Poetry Analysis: Ode on a grecian Urn, by John Keats." Helium (2010): n. pag. Web. 4 Apr 2011. .

Lorcher, Trent. "An Analysis of Ode on a Grecian Urn By John Keats." Bright Hub. Noreen Gunnel, 07/31/10. Web. 4 Apr 2011. .

"Ode on a Grecian Urn: Introduction." Poetry for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 4 April 2011. .

Shmoop Editorial Team. "Ode on a Grecian Urn." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 03 Apr 2011.

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