Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats (Text, Summary & Analysis)

Ode on a Grecian Urn

by John Keats

(Text, Summary & Analysis)

John Keats (1795 –1821) 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. His reputation grew after his death, and by the end of the 19th century, he had become one of the most beloved of all English poets. He had a significant influence on a diverse range of poets and writers. The poetry of Keats is characterized by a style "heavily loaded with sensualities", most notably in the series of odes. This is typical of the Romantic poets. Some of his most acclaimed works are "Ode to a Nightingale", "Sleep and Poetry" and the famous sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer".

Ode on a Grecian Urn

(The Poem)

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."

Summary

The theme of the poem ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ is ‘Immortality of Art’.

In the first stanza of the ode the poet calls the urn with different names and also tells his readers, what he is going to talk about the urn. In the second stanza, he talks about the heard and the unheard melodies, and about the lover and his beloved. He further compares the happiness of boughs, melodist and love. The next stanza is a description of a pious morning of a little town. In the last stanza of the ode the poet again addresses the urn with different names, and tries to level it equal to God, and gives a message, “beauty is truth, truth beauty”.

The poet starts his poem by calling the urn with different names. He calls the urn “unravished bride of quietness”, “foster child of silence and slow time” and “sylvan historian”. The poet says, that this leaf fringed urn reminds him of the legend of deities and of human beings, either of Temp or of the dales of Arcady. He says, that the urn is pictured with men, Gods, and their activities like loathing, struggling to escape and playing on musical instrument.

The poet asks the pictured musician to play on his pipe for his spirit deities because according to him “heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter”. He further says, that the fair youth and the trees will remain as it is. The bold lover, though has not his bliss, will ever remain in loving position and his beloved fair.

The poet further compares the boughs, melodist and love and finds ‘love’ the happiest one. Boughs are happy because they do not shed their leaves, melodist is happy because he keeps on piping new songs but love is the happiest one because it remains warm and to be enjoyed forever. The lovers remain panting and young forever. They are unaware of the disastrous consequences of the human passion.

Now the poet gives a description of another picture, in which a priest leads a heifer to a green alter for sacrifice. The town is empty of its folk and the streets are silent. He says, that the streets will remain silent forever and forever and not a soul will ever return to tell why they are empty.

In the last stanza of the poem the poet again addresses the urn with different names like ‘Attic shape’, ‘fair attitude’, and ‘cold pastoral’. He says that the round shaped urn has a fair attitude because it has pastoral scenes, like forest branches, trodden weed and the decorated men and maidens. The poet ranks the urn equal to the God because it does tease us out of thought as doth eternity. He further says, generation after generation will parish but the urn will remain, in spite of the cruel hand of the time and will give a message to all the generation, that beauty is truth and truth beauty. He says, that the message of the urn is the gift of life, which we know on earth and we need to know.

Text & Summary

Analysis