Ode on a Grecian Urn Poem Summary and Analysis

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” is a poem written by the English Romantic poet John Keats in May 1819, first published anonymously in Annals of the Fine Arts for 1819

The poem is one of the “Great Odes of 1819”, which also include “Ode on Indolence”, “Ode on Melancholy”, “Ode to a Nightingale”, and “Ode to Psyche”. Keats found existing forms in poetry unsatisfactory for his purpose, and in this collection he presented a new development of the ode form. He was inspired to write the poem after reading two articles by English artist and writer Benjamin Haydon. Through his awareness of other writings in this field and his first-hand acquaintance with the Elgin Marbles, Keats perceived the idealism and representation of Greek virtues in classical Greek art, and his poem draws upon these insights.

In five stanzas of ten lines each, the poet addresses an ancient Grecian urn, describing and discoursing upon the images depicted on it. In particular he reflects upon two scenes, one in which a lover pursues his beloved, and another where villagers and a priest gather to perform a sacrifice. The poet concludes that the urn will say to future generations of mankind: “‘Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.’ – that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”. Critics have debated whether these lines adequately perfect the conception of the poem. Critics have also focused on the role of the narrator, the power of material objects to inspire, and the paradoxical interrelation between the worldly and the ideal reality in the poem.

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” was not well received by contemporary critics. It was only by the mid-19th century that it began to be praised, although it is now considered to be one of the greatest odes in the English language. A long debate over the poem’s final statement divided 20th-century critics, but most agreed on the beauty of the work, despite certain perceived inadequacies.

Ode on a Grecian Urn Analysis of the poem

In the first stanza the speaker stands in front of the ancient urn and addresses it. There are many pictures engraved on it which is frozen in time. He calls the urn as ‘historian” that can tell a story. He marvels at the legends who depicted these pictures. There are several pictures in it and the poem describes each of it. There are males and reluctant-looking females so he wonders whether this scene shows the chase and attempt to escape.

There are some musical instruments in the picture and says that unheard melodies are sweeter than heard melodies.

In the second stanza he asks the pipers not to stop playing the song, since this is a picture frozen in time he cannot stop playing and the trees will never shed their leaves. There is another scene where two lovers are about to kiss but cannot; they will love forever and she will be beautiful forever because it is frozen in time.

In the third stanza there is another scene where there is a tree which is happy because its leaves will never be shed. The speaker then returns to the piper, whom they perceive as happy and untiring—the piper will play new music for the rest of time. This fills the speaker with thoughts of happiness and love. He is happy that the love of the boy and the girl will last forever, unlike mortal love, which lapses into “breathing human passion” and eventually vanishes, leaving behind only a “burning forehead, and a parching tongue.”

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. He wonders where they are going (“To what green altar, O mysterious priest…”) and from where they have come. He imagines their little town, empty of all its citizens, and tells it that its streets will “for evermore” be silent, for those who have left it, frozen on the urn, will never return. In the final stanza, the speaker again addresses the urn itself, saying that it, like Eternity, “doth tease us out of thought.” He thinks that when his generation is long dead, the urn will remain, telling future generations its enigmatic lesson: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” The speaker says that that is the only thing the urn knows and the only thing it needs to know. (Sparknotes editors, 2002)

Themes

Mortality and immortality
Art, beauty and truth
History and imagination

Literary techniques

Symbolism: “plants and trees” are the symbols of youth and spring,
“urn” itself is the symbol of time and life.
Personification: He addresses the urn as “bride of quietness” and “Sylvan historian”; “you soft pipe, play on” as if pipe and urn are humans that can perform certain acts.
Assonance: the sound of /o/ in “More happy love! more happy, happy love!” and /i/ sound in “Attic shape! Fair attitude! With brede.”
Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a part is meant to represent the whole., “burning love” that is fever and “parching tongues” is thirst.
Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of the same consonant sounds in the same line of poetry such as the sound of /n/ in “Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. And /t/ sound in “”Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all.”
Paradox:, “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard”,.