Ode on a Grecian Urn
The author of this
poem is John
Keats
keats, john. "ode on a grecian urn."
http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/odeonagrecianurn.
html. Philological Quarterly, 1977. Web. 7 Feb 2011.
<http://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/odeonagrecianurn
.html>.
Poem
Thou still unravished bride of quietness,
Thou foster child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loath?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared,
Pipe to the spirit dities of no tone.
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal---yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss
Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unweari-ed,
Forever piping songs forever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,
Forever panting, and forever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unweari-ed,
Forever piping songs forever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,
Forever panting, and forever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
Paraphrase
The Ode is a form of Lyric poem. Ode on a
Grecian Urn is one of the most popular poems of
Romantic poet, John Keats. It is one of the most
widely read poems amongst Literature students.
The poem focuses on the nature of beauty. Urns
of this era are characterized by scenes from
religious and musical ceremonies similar to the
ones described throughout the poem. The “Ode
on a Grecian Urn” portrays his attempt to
engage with the static immobility of sculpture.
The Grecian urn, passed down through countless
centuries to the time of the speaker’s viewing,
exists outside of time in the human sense.
Diction
Keats has a unique way of using his words in his
poem. In the first stanza, the speaker stands
before an ancient Grecian urn and addresses it.
In the second stanza, the speaker looks at another
picture on the urn, this time of a young man
playing a pipe, lying with his lover beneath a
glade of trees. In the fourth stanza, the speaker
examines another picture on the urn, this one of
a group of villagers leading a heifer to be
sacrificed. It is true that the speaker shows a
certain kind of progress in his successive
attempts to engage with the urn. In the final
stanza, the speaker presents the conclusions
drawn from his three attempts to engage with
the urn. He is overwhelmed by its existence
outside of temporal change, with its ability to
“tease” him “out of thought / As doth eternity.”
Tone and Mood
The prevailing mood is one of unperturbed reflection,
as evinced in the opening lines' use of the words
'quietness' and 'silence'. The iambic rhythm is
apparent in the first line, where the stress is on the
words 'still', the syllable 'rav' in 'unravish'd', 'bride',
and the syllables 'qui' and 'ness' in 'quietness',
creating the impression of a heartbeat. It also
becomes clear that there is a coexistence of concepts
embodied in the word 'still', which carries two
meanings, representing both time and motion, thus
creating the impression of a frozen moment - an image
which recurs throughout. The repetitious use of
questions also adds suspense, the reader wishing to
progress further to see if they are answered. As well
as single words - the repetition of 'What' in lines 5,8,9
and 10 - whole sentence structures are also repeated
in the last 3 lines, which all employ caesura
(represented with a question mark), indicating that
the reader should pause for effect. Suspense is also
provided through the impression of escalating volume.
The stanza began with a mood of meditative stillness
yet finishes with the sounds of 'pipes and timbrels'
Rhetorical Situation
Who is the speaker in the poem: Our speaker is
insecure. He keeps comparing his own verses to
the urn, and he decides that they’re nowhere
near as good.
To whom is it addressed to: Directly to the
reader.
What is the author intending to communicate to
the reader: The Grecian Urn depicts a world of
beauty and human passions that are set in art.
The Lover on the urn pictures something that
cannot fade. In the poem there is a development
of the idea of the supremacy of ideal art over
nature since it is captured for all time on the urn
it is an unchanging expression of perfection.
Figurative Language
All the scenes depict some form of
human emotion, particularly love and
desire. However, the overall theme of
the poem is about the important of
beauty. The figurative language in the
poem illustrates Keats view the
importance of beauty. Keats uses a lot
of imagery from Greek culture to
illustrate the importance of beauty. In
the first stanza, he speaks of the
places in Greece known for their
beauty and serenity. He speaks of the
"leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy
shape of deities or mortals, or of both,
in Tempe or the dales of Arcady" (lines
5-7). According to legend, Tempe and
Arcady are places where both humans
and gods had the opportunity to
experience the beauty of these places.
Thus, Keats is showing readers that
enjoying the beauty that surrounds us
in not a divine privilege.
Imagery
Lines 1-2: The poem opens with an
apostrophe, by addressing something
that cannot respond. Also, the speaker
uses a metaphor to compare the urn to
an "unravish’d" bride and "foster-child."
The urn is being personified, or treated
as if it were a person who could
actually get married.
Line 3: Through metaphor, the urn is
compared to a "sylvan historian," or
someone who tells stories about forest
life.
Lines 41-42: The speaker praises the
urn’s shape and posture and provides
the image of "marble men and
maidens" that form a kind of "braid."
Line 44: The apostrophe and
personification continues ("Thou silent
form").
Lines 48-50: The urn is personified as
speaking to the humans. The urn uses
a simple chiasmus in the expression
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."
Sound
The sound of the poem is very easy and sweet. It’s a love
poem which is very romantic its very detailed and he speaks
with passion
Perpetuation and immortality are the main themes in Ode to
a Grecian Urn. The theme of perpetuation is brought up by
the images where the piper got to play his song forever, the
guy who could never kiss the girl under a tree yet the beauty
stayed with the girl forever, the tree that would never shed its
leaves etc. These all happen because all the things carved
on the urn are unmoving.
Structure
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" consists of five stanzas that present a scene,
describe and comment on what it shows, and offer a general truth that the
scene teaches a person analyzing the scene. Each stanza has ten lines
written in iambic pentameter, a pattern of rhythm (meter) that assigns ten
syllables to each line. The first syllable is unaccented, the second accented,
the third unaccented, the fourth accented, and so on.
Romanticism
Rhyme Scheme
First Stanza: ababcdecde
Second Stanza: ababcdeced
Third Stanza: ababcdecde
Fourth stanza: ababcdecde
iambic pentameter, where each line has ten syllables
In line 13, for example, he begins with a stressed syllable for dramatic effect
“Not” to the sensual ear, but, more endeared
Conclusion
The conclusion is it’s a love poem that has lots of feelings
and descriptions in it. Since it was written during the
romantic period it explains the writing during this time period.
The urn is the star of the show, and it is described in several
different ways. In the beginning of the poem, it’s a married
bride
uses a metaphor to compare the urn to an "unravish’d" bride
and "foster-child."
Reaction
My reaction to this poem was it was very sweet
after I understood it. Very detailed and it had lots
of imagery in the poem. I had to read it more then
once because it was so long. After a couple times
I understood with the help of Google.