BY JOHN KEATS
Thou still unravish'd 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-fring'd 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 loth?
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 endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties 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,
For ever 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, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
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 drest?
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.
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'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
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Poet
John Keats, who died at the age of twenty-five, had perhaps the most remarkable career of any English poet.
He published only fifty-four poems, in three slim volumes and a few magazines. But at each point in his
development he took on the challenges of a wide range of poetic forms from the sonnet, to the Spenserian
romance, to the Miltonic epic, defining anew their possibilities with his own distinctive fusion of earnest
energy, control of conflicting perspectives and forces, poetic self-consciousness, and, occasionally, dry ironic
wit. In the case of the English ode he brought its form, in the five great odes of 1819, to its most perfect
definition.
John Keats was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of
Romantic poets along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley despite his work having been in publication
for only four years before his death
Poem
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" was written in 1819, the year in which Keats contracted tuberculosis. He told his
friends that he felt like a living ghost, and it‘s not surprising that the speaker of the poem should be so obsessed
with the idea of immortality.
The poem consists of a person talking to a kind of fancy Greek pot known as an "urn" that was made of marble.
Keats would have been able to see many urns from Ancient Greece at the British Museum, the world's biggest
archeological treasure-trove. Urns are known not only for their sleek, beautiful shape but also for the quality of
the pictures that were often painted on their sides. Most of the poem centers on the story told in the images
carved on the side of one particular urn. But this isn‘t some mellow reflection on a pot: it‘s a wild rollercoaster
of a poem covering BIG subjects likesex, love, nature, and death.
Writing and Publication Dates
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" was written in the spring of 1819 and published later that year in Annals of the Fine
Arts, which focused on architecture, sculpture, and painting but sometimes published poems and essays with
themes related to the arts.
Summary
In his poem ―Ode on a Grecian Urn‖, John Keats reflects upon a rare and valuable object of observation, the
images of which offered him tremendous poetic inspirations. In accordance with the subject matter that relates
a great work of art, the poet draws attention, through his poetic devices, to the fact that his poem is a work of
art, too. It is consciously and artfully constructed by the effective use of assonance, parallelism, paradoxes and
the series of apostrophes which constantly personify the urn, allowing the poet to present the urn as a reoccurring motif of the perpetuity and eternity of art.
The poet starts the first stanza of the poem by addressing the urn directly as if he was having a conversation
with it. In the very metaphorical and paradoxical opening four lines, the urn is depicted as a ―still unravish‘d
bride of quietness‖. Here the word ―still‖ has multiple meanings, suggesting the motionlessness and silence of
the urn – it is still, pure, virginal and perfect, just like a bride, as is backed up by the word ―quietness‖. The
silence and stillness of the urn are further reinforced by the ―foster-child of silence‖.
The poet in these lines also give a sense of historical mystery surrounding the urn, with the urn being a ―Sylvan
historian‖ telling puzzling historical mysteries like ―A flowering tale more sweetly than our rhyme.‖ Keats
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offers a great paradox here, built up by the fact that the urn is silent, but is also a historian that can
communicate effectively, hence fostering the ambivalence that seems to dominate the poem as a whole.
In these four opening lines, the assonance of the long drawn out ―i‖ sound emphasises the urn‘s formal status in
this poem. In the second half of the first part, closely related with the use of a colon, the poet asks a series of
questions about the scenes drawn on the Grecian Urn, while showing his marvelling at historical and artistic
mystery, and also at the beauty embodied in the urn itself. These questions also give a historical and outlandish
sense, which is typical of Romantic poets looking for inspiration.
The questions of scenes on the urn, described more clearly in later parts, build up a panoramic view that
comprises many figures both mundane (―mortals‖) and supernatural (―deities‖), both physical (―mad pursuit‖)
and spiritual (―wild ecstasy‖).
In the second stanza, Keats describes in greater detail the scenes that he was questioning earlier, contrasting the
perfection of the static art with the imperfection, transience and sorrow of human life. The ―unheard‖ melodies
depicted on the urn are sweeter than heard music because it is ―Not to the sensual ear‖ but more to please the
supernatural ―ditties‖, far beyond the mundane earshot.
Now Keats introduces the important idea of frozen moments of time with this steadfast image, which
transcends time, giving a sense of perpetuity and eternity as the ―sweet‖ music on the urn plays on and the trees
remain forever green. Since all are fixed in one moment of time, even the lovers described on the urn will
always remain a blissful anticipation – ―She cannot fade, though thou has not thy bliss, / For ever wilt thou
love, and she be fair!‖ Here Keats celebrates the idea of love, as represented by the girl, who is always there to
acquire, because everything is perpetualized by the drawing of the urn.
In this second part, many poetic devices such as the repetition in ―unheard echoes heard‖, ―sweeter sweet‖,
―pipe pipes‖, and the specific assonance of ―ear … endear‘d‖, ―spirit ditties‖, and ―no tone‖ all contribute to the
artful status of not only this ode, but also the urn that the ode poeticizes.
In the third stanza, the author‘s conversation with the urn now seems to focus on a different part of the picture
showing a young boy ―piping songs forever‖ to a girl. By talking reassuringly to the boy, the poet shows his
understanding about the idea of true love – ―more happy, happy love! / For ever warm and still to be enjoy‘d, /
Forever panting, and forever young‖. Keats talks of love as immortalized, just like the perpetual images of the
urn. He imagines the physical conditions of love and the youth‘s heart as he tries to imagine the painted
figure‘s exact status, applicable to his own feelings – ―heart high-sorrowful and cloy‘d‖.
In the fourth stanza, the poet again asks a series of questions, this time concerning a new scene of sacrifice on
the urn, where many people arrive at the altar with the ―mysterious priest‖ leading ―that heifer lowing at the
skies‖. The poet speculates about the now empty ―silent‖ town from which all these people have come to attend
the ritual of the sacrifice. The town is described beautifully with images ―by river or sea shore, / Or mountain
built with peaceful citadel‖. Thus in the last two parts, the poet, looking at different parts of the urn, not only
describes the beauty he sees, but also praises its eternity.
In the fifth part of the ode, the poet carries on describing the people and procession on the urn. Keats describes
Athens with ―Fair Attitude!‖, with ―marble man and maidens overwrought‖ giving a sense of praise upon the
urn as if the pictures on the urn are sculptures so delicately made that even their facial expressions of tension
and woe can be seen clearly. Such praises of the fine drawing on the urn are reinforced with the descriptions of
―forest branches and trodden weed‖.
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The fine drawing on the ―silent‖ urn ―teases us out of thought‖ and fills the poet with wondrous feelings about
the eternity of art. These thoughts cause the poet to re-address the urn and talk to it now as ―Cold Pastoral!‖ He
tells the urn that time has changed since the urn was first made; the idyllic pastoral lifestyle of hymn and odes
is forever lost in the industrial revolutions.
The new name of the urn as ―Cold Pastoral‖ could also express Keats‘ romantic woes – even if art is the
ultimate reminder of the historically cherished lifestyle, art is nevertheless death-like, and ―cold‖ – it offers no
movement, no change and no fulfilment. Such eternity of art of the urn introduces a new and less positive
perspective of the poet, who becomes more detached. He now sees the urn as limited - it never changes, and the
human feelings and actions it depicts never experience the fullness and fulfilment of life. Nevertheless, when
Keats draws his conclusions about the urn, it still remains ―a friend to man […] in midst of other woe‖.
The ode concludes with the two most debated lines in Keats‘ poetry, with Keats‘ assertion to all with the
informal second person pronoun ―ye‖ – ―‘Beauty is truth, truth is beauty,‘ – that is all / Ye know on earth, and
all ye need to know.‖ Here Keats‘ final statement highlights the strong contrast between art and life as he sees
them. The urn, a work of art, seems to represent perfect enduring beauty, while human life, in contrast, is
imperfect and transient.
In conclusion, in the poem ―Ode on a Grecian Urn‖, through the poet‘s effective use of poetic and sound
devices, including assonance, paradox, repetition, and most importantly, the constant personification of the reoccurring motif the urn, John Keats emphasises the idea of the eternity of art. Also, his concluding statement,
―Beauty is truth, truth beauty‖, reinforces the perpetual truth and beauty of the arts, praising the urn as the most
perfect and enduring beauty ever seen.
Type of Work
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" is a romantic ode, a dignified but highly lyrical (emotional) poem in which the author
speaks to a person or thing absent or present. In this famous ode, Keats addresses the urn and the images on it.
The romantic ode was at the pinnacle of its popularity in the nineteenth century. It was the result of an author‘s
deep meditation on the person or object. The romantic ode evolved from theancient Greek ode, written in a
serious tone to celebrate an event or to praise an individual. The Greek ode was intended to be sung by a chorus
or by one person to the accompaniment of musical instruments. The odes of the Greek poet Pindar (circa 518-
438 BC) frequently extolled athletes who participated in athletic games at Olympus, Delphi, the Isthmus of
Corinth, and Nemea. Bacchylides, a contemporary of Pindar, also wrote odes praising athletes.
The Roman poets Horace (65-8 BC) and Catullus (84-54 BC) wrote odes based on the Greek model, but their
odes were not intended to be sung. In the nineteenth century, English romantic poets wrote odes that retained
the serious tone of the Greek ode. However, like the Roman poets, they did not write odes to be sung. Unlike
the Roman poets, though, the authors of nineteenth century romantic odes generally were more emotional in
their writing. The author of a typical romantic ode focused on a scene, pondered its meaning, and presented a
highly personal reaction to it that included a special insight at the end of the poem (like the closing lines of
―Ode on a Grecian Urn‖).
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Structure and Meter
"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. Note, for example, the
accent pattern of the first two lines of the poem
thou STILL..|..un RAV..|..ished BRIDE..|..of QUI..|..et NESS,
thou FOS..|..ter CHILD..|..of SI..|..lence AND..|..slow TIME
Notice that each line has ten syllables, five unaccented ones in blue and five accented ones in red. Thus, these
lines—like the other lines in the poem—are in iambic pentameter. Iambic refers to a pair of syllables, one
unaccented and the other accented. Such a pair is called aniamb. "Thou STILL" is an iamb; so are "et NESS"
and "slow TIME." However, "BRIDE of" and "FOS ter" are not iambs because they consist of an accented
syllable followed by an unaccented syllable. Pentameter—the first syllable of which is derived from the Greek
word for five—refers to lines that have five iambs (which, as demonstrated, each have two syllables). "Ode on
a Grecian Urn," then, is in iambic pentameter because every line has five iambs, each iamb consisting of an
unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. The purpose of this stress pattern is to give the poem rhythm
that pleases the ear.
Situation and Setting
In England, Keats examines a marble urn crafted in ancient Greece. (Whether such an urn was real or imagined
is uncertain. However, many artifacts from ancient Greece, ones which could have inspired Keats, were on
display in the British Museum at the time that Keats wrote the poem.) Pictured on the urn, a type of vase, are
pastoral scenes in Greece. In one scene, males are chasing females in some sort of revelry or celebration. There
are musicians playing pipes (wind instruments such as flutes) and timbrels (ancient tambourines). Keats
wonders whether the images represent both gods and humans. He also wonders what has occasioned their
merrymaking.
A second scene depicts people leading a heifer to a sacrificial altar. Keats writes his ode about what he sees,
addressing or commenting on the urn and its images as if they were real beings with whom he can speak.
Poetic devices
One poetic technique that is used in this poem from the outset is metaphor. The speaker compares the urn he is
talking about to a series of different images that each point towards the centrality and importance of the urn as
a symbol of eternal beauty. Note the comparisons that are established in the first couple of lines:
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express...
The urn is compared to a "still unravish'd bride of quietness," a "foster-child of silence and slow time" and a
"Sylvian historian." These metaphors are very important in the way that they establish the sense of how this urn
represents a transcendent beauty for Keats. For him, the urn is "unravish'd" in the sense that it stands for how
true beauty and art does not diminish or fade over the years. True beauty dwells in a realm of "silence and slow
time" that allows Keats to develop the contrast between the urn and the frail humans who are left to
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contemplate such beauty in their brief mortal spans. Therefore metaphor is one poetic technique that Keats uses
with great effect in this poem.
Personification
Keats uses personification, a figurative language device where authors give human characteristics to objects or
ideas. In "Ode on a Grecian Urn," the speaker describes the urn as a storyteller that can more accurately portray
history than even the greatest scholars.. The paintings are objects that can't see or have memories, but come to
life through these human qualities.
Visual Imagery
Keats incorporates visual imagery to recreate the urn and paintings for readers. In "Ode on a Grecian Urn,"
Keats uses visual imagery when he describes the activities of the people in the urn's carving, from lovers
beneath green trees to their unchanging green branches and leaves., as well as the seasons, landscapes and
people that inhabit the paintings.
Themes
Art versus Life
Ultimately, the poem addresses the theme of the seeming idealism of art versus the pain and suffering in the
real world. At first, the speaker of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" seems to celebrate the fact that in the world of the
urn's carving, life is frozen in time. By the final stanza, though, his attitude shifts to sadness because the vibrant
scene it depicts is merely "cold pastoral" carved in stone.and vivid emotion in his work.
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." If human life is a succession of "hungry generations," as the speaker suggests in
"Nightingale," the urn is a separate and self-contained world. It can be a "friend to man," as the speaker says,
but it cannot be mortal; the kind of aesthetic connection the speaker experiences with the urn is ultimately
insufficient to human life.
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.
The pictures on the urn represent lasting beauty because it is as if they are frozen in time. He speaks of the
unchanging scenery, speaking of the images as "though winning never the goal" (line 18). Readers can almost
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picture the chiseled images of men running around the urn, never getting a prize. Keats illustrates the desire to
live forever, just as the unchangeable images on the urn.
Additionally, Keats uses the example of the connection between beauty and young love. Most people think that
such love will never end. He calls it "happy love! For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, for ever panting, and
for ever young" (lines 25-7). When a writer repeats a word or phase, they are illustrating the importance of the
context.
Eternity
In the second and third stanzas, he examines the picture of the piper playing to his lover beneath the trees.
Here, the speaker tries to imagine what the experience of the figures on the urn must be like; he tries to identify
with them. He is tempted by their escape from temporality and attracted to the eternal newness of the piper's
unheard song and the eternally unchanging beauty of his lover
Furthermore, Keats emphasizes the fact that the beauty around us is not just for aesthetic purposes. It should go
deeper than an outward examination of things such as branches and weeds. He says that "silent form, dost tease
us out of thought as doth eternity" (lines 44-5). He says these things make us think, allows the readers thoughts
to produce. Nevertheless, beauty around us should prod the mind. His conclusion to all of this is "Beauty is
truth, truth beauty" (line 50). That is important to life. The repetition of 'for ever' shows the urn's immortality
Love and sex
The theme of Ode on a Grecian Urn is love. However, it is not necessarily happy love. "Bold lover, never,
never canst thou kiss" (Keats 1036). It seems that the two are in love, but to an extent. They seem to be more in
love with the chase of each other, but once they are both happy and in love, that trill soon ends. . He thinks that
their love is "far above" all transient human passion, which, in its sexual expression, inevitably leads to an
abatement of intensity--when passion is satisfied, all that remains is a wearied physicality: a sorrowful heart, a
"burning forehead," and a "parching tongue." His
recollection of these conditions seems to remind the speaker that he is inescapably subject to them, and he
abandons his attempt to identify with the figures on the urn.
