Ode on a Grecian Urn
by John Keats
Presented by Alisa Granada, Pamela Weidman, Sevan
Dulgarian
Background Information
● John Keats (1795-1821): English poet;
poems not popular during life, but
recognized now as one of the greatest
Romanticism poets
● Ode on a Grecian Urn is one of his
Great Odes of 1819 (Ode to a
Nightingale, Ode on Melancholy, Ode
on Indolence, Ode to Psyche)
● This poem is an example of ekphrasis
(one form of art is used to describe
another)
General Poetic Devices
● Themes and symbolism of urn: art, truth, beauty,
reality, emotions
● Rhyme scheme: not strict rhyming (ABAB, then
usually CDE CDE). Divides each stanza into two
portions: 1) describing/analyzing appearance of
urn 2) exploring significance/mystery/connection
to real life
● Form: five stanzas, rhythmic indentations
● Word choice: (virgin imagery in first few stanzas,
repetition of "happy" in stanza three, "Cold
Pastoral", etc.)
Essential Questions
●
One interpretation of this poem is that the urn symbolizes art and art’s
purpose: if this is right, what do you think Keats think art’s
purpose/meaning/importance is? Do you agree with this interpretation?
●
List the things that the urn symbolizes (beauty, truth, idealistic world, art,
etc.). Any connections between the different possible meanings?
●
How does the speaker’s view towards the urn change in each verse?
●
How do the last two lines of the poem change the rest of the poem’s
meaning? There’s some dispute over whether these lines add or detract
from the poem--thoughts?
●
How does this poem connect to the characteristics of Romanticism? Does
this shed light on attitude of speaker/poem’s message?
First Stanza
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?
First Stanza
-Emphasizes ancientness/mystery of urn ("...
quietness / Thou foster-child of silence and
slow time")
-Emphasizes legends/supernatural found in
myths ("Of deities or mortals, or of both")
-Repeated questions (lines 8-10): set up
following stanzas, emphasize how urn is
mysterious/can't be fully defined or
understood
-Personifies urn: "Thou," "foster child," "Sylvan
historian"
Second Stanza
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!
Second Stanza
-Urn is in state of innocence/unknown: parallels to
lovers, the experience of connecting to the art, and
the "unravish'd bride"/"pipes" virginal image system.
-Poem's speaker is like the Lover depicted on the urn
and the "mad pursuit" in first stanza: both the urn and
the female on the urn are pure and unattainable.
Lover and speaker want to "attain"
-Urn's emotions are pure and perhaps not real: "She
cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss"
Third Stanza
Ah, happy, happy bough! 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
Third Stanza
-Dramatic shift in mood: extremely joyous. "happy"
repeated six times; subject of the stanza is a Spring
scene of the passion on the urn. Contrasts to passion
experienced in real life.
-"All breathing human passion far above, / That
leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, / A burning
forehead, and a parching tongue": compares urn's
perfect happiness to the "burning" pain of real
passion.
-What is the purpose of this comparison? What is
the speaker's opinion towards emotions in the urn and
emotions in real life?
Fourth Stanza
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.
Fourth Stanza
-The only images actually on the urn are the people
leading the heifer to the altar. Everything else is created
by the speaker's imagination
-Like first stanza, speaker uses a series of questions: "Who
are these coming to the sacrifice? / ...And all her silken
flanks with garlands drest?"
-Romantic characteristic: the "world" of the urn is
expanded to include a "little town" "mountain-built with
peaceful citadel" by speaker's imagination. The speaker's
own individual, subjective experience creates what lies
beyond the image. What does this say about the effect a
viewer has when experiencing art?
Fifth Stanza
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."
Fifth Stanza
-Brings image systems together: "marble" "maidens" "forest
branches."
-Personifies the urn, like in the first stanza, but the tone
seems a little more frustrated. "silent form"..."Cold
Pastoral!" emphasizes that the urn is not real and "teases
us out of thought" because it is not fully understandable
("Cold" contrasts to "burning" real-life passions in third
stanza?)
-Urn will "remain," containing truth and beauty, even
when their generation is gone. "A friend to man" that will
still exist. Although speaker laments that he can't fully
understand the urn, he recognizes its importance and
eternal beauty
Essential Questions
●
One interpretation of this poem is that the urn symbolizes art and art’s
purpose: if this is right, what do you think Keats think art’s
purpose/meaning/importance is? Do you agree with this interpretation?
●
List the things that the urn symbolizes (beauty, truth, idealistic world, art,
etc.). Any connections between the different possible meanings?
●
How does the speaker’s view towards the urn change in each verse?
●
How do the last two lines of the poem change the rest of the poem’s
meaning? There’s some dispute over whether these lines add or detract
from the poem--thoughts?
●
How does this poem connect to the characteristics of Romanticism? Does
this shed light on attitude of speaker/poem’s message?
Art Connection
This is an image of a stone
relief depicting Greek actors
telling a traditional story.
● In the poem: the reader
interprets the speaker
interpreting the images on
the urn
● In the image: the audience
interprets the actors
interpreting the script
● How does this connect to
themes about truth and
art? Can art ever directly
convey the truth or
message?