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.
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