Ode On A Grecian Urn

Another important attribute of this poem is the rhythm and tempo that is kept throughout the poem. It does not stick to a strict syllable count per line, so in this way, the poem flows quite freely, and conveys the speaker’s thoughts in a more natural and informal manner. The sound varies from soft to loud, in particular, descending in inflection on the final lines of each stanza. The listener is able to understand the feelings of the speaker through the tone and intonation, which is an essential part in transmitting meaning and

The similarities between the poems lie in their abilities to utilize imagery as a means to enhance the concept of the fleeting nature that life ultimately has and to also help further elaborate the speaker’s opinion towards their own situation. In Keats’ poem, dark and imaginative images are used to help match with the speaker’s belief that both love and death arise from fate itself. Here, Keats describes the beauty and mystery of love with images of “shadows” and “huge cloudy symbols of a high romance” to illustrate his belief that love comes from fate, and that he is sad to miss out on such an opportunity when it comes time for his own death.

Meanwhile in “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, the speaker experiences the belly of the whale when he comes to the realization that he will never be immortal like the painting on the urn. The belly of the whale--as mentioned before--deals with the lowest point in the character’s life, and specifically in this case, the persona, a human with a mortal life desires the ability of being immortal. The speaker undergoes the same wants as Dorian Gray but does not gain them. If anything “Ode on a Grecian Urn” serves as the realistic version of people accepting mortality than The Picture of Dorian Gray. Although Dorian Gray expresses what it “looks like” to receive what a person wishes for, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” turns a lesson into a wide perspective about what

The first four lines are metaphors the speaker uses to draw you into the poem wondering who is in the urn. Making the urn as a mystery box. He goes into great detail about the urn, but leaves the final judgment of who was actually cremated in the urn to the listener. The speaker starts the poem off by acting as if the urn is a bride on her wedding day at the alter and the silence you hear as the groom approaches her. Maybe that’s not it, the ashes in the urn is a foster child, silence and slow time is the parents who are symbolized as the urn to protect the ashes. Then finally the speaker calls the urn a “historian” statin to the listener just imagine the stories these ashes could tell not just of those who have visited the urn, but of life

Time is the one constant in life that one cannot change and both Humbert Humbert and Keats try to evade it by trying to stop time. In Ode on a Grecian Urn, resembling John Keats, Humbert Humbert envies the past youth and innocence that transforms overtime into a relationship of distrust and disillusion. One can see through textural evidence that Humbert craves the innocence of a past relationship that was uncompleted though his desire to replicate this relationship with Lolita. Humbert wants to keep this perfect image of youth and innocence alive through his desires just as Keats wants to be a perfect image that never changes on a Grecian Urn so that time never passes.

Conversely, in another of Keats’ poems “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, he describes a piece of art that is spoken of in admiration. Keats believes that art as beautiful as this or any art for that matter is forever. This artistic expression transcends death itself. “When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe” (Keats). While everyone around grows old and eventually passes away this art is untouched by the hands of death. The works people leave behind are immortal and will withstand the test of time. Whether it be a sculpture or a poet’s work. Keats is not the only one who sees a death as an opportunity though. In “On Death”, another of Keats’ poems he speaks of death as a chance to let go of the suffering in this life and find peace in another. In the first line of this poem Keats creates an idea that when we are living, or awake, we are dreaming. “Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream, And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?”(Keats). I believe he’s saying that we are living in a dreamlike state, where we go by in our everyday lives and every

Chirico has drawn a young girl running with the hoop near the lower left corner and a statue on the upper right corner. Based on perspective, the girl seems to be running towards the statue and the light. However, in reality, the young girl will never reach her goal. According to the poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, by John Keats, he claims life “as doth eternity: Cold Pastoral” (45), where the scene is frozen. The girl will always stay where she is and never move towards the unknown statue. Keats’ poem mostly depicts the urn as a painting that cannot ever move, just like the girl cannot move from her choice of work. In other words, nothing can go backward and forward. Close to the bottom, there is an open horse cart that appears to be lit by some unseen source of light, contrasting with the bright side of the painting. This illogical lighting allows the horse cart to stand out. Some might not notice, but in the building, there lies a human-like shape, with two tiny eyes, lurking in the shadows. The viewer can see the darken shape in the last dark arch on the right side. It seems as if this mysterious person plans to stalk the girl. The viewers cannot be too positive about the hidden figure in the shadows, which explains how the painting gives off a mysterious

The poem gives the reader a feeling of loneliness and emptiness by using lines like “The lone and level sands” and “boundless and bare” (14, 13). In “Ode to a Grecian Urn”, the connotations of the words that Keats uses are completely opposite. Keats even describes the urn as being able to tell “A flowery tale more sweetly than [their] rhyme” (4). Keats then goes on to state that the melodies “unheard/ Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on” (11-12). These lines are so light and pretty especially compared to the harshness of Shelley’s poem. Keats describes the beautiful pictures on the urn throughout the rest of the poem, even making a sacrifice sound peaceful.

John Keats was a poet who saw nature as being exhilarating and beautiful. He often drew comparisons between nature and poetry to express his thoughts. In his poems “Bright Star” and “When I have fears,” John Keats uses alliteration and personification to express his emotions towards mortality. In “Bright Star,” he uses these devices to express his desire to be eternal and permanent by comparing them to a star. Similarly, in “When I have Fears,” he uses them to capture his fear of dying before accomplishing greatness in writing and romance. In both poems, he uses alliteration to overcome his fears by realizing the unimportance of eternity and fame. Thus, by using the same poetic devices, he ultimately expresses his fear of the inevitable death

Truth remains a mysterious essential: sought out, created, and destroyed in countless metaphysical arguments through time. Whether argued as being absolute or relative, universal or personal, no thought is perceived or conceived without an assessment of its truth. In John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and E.E. Cummings' "since feeling is first" the concern is not specifically the truth of a thought, but rather, the general nature of truth; the foundation which gives truth is trueness . Both poets replace investigation with decision, and that which would be argumentation in the hands of philosophers becomes example and sentiment in their poems. Each poet's

In Ode to the Grecian Urn the narrator asks ‘who canst thus express/ a flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme (Keats 3-4). The designs etched upon the urn seem to showcase a story, one far opposite of the toils of daily life. The narrator is drawn to the seemingly unmarred tale. In his mind’s eye, the life expressed upon the container is greater than his own; ‘heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/ are sweeter’ (11-12). He wants to live the moments captured within the engravings, despite the impossibility of that happening.

In the second stanza, the speaker beholds a piper joyfully playing under the tress for his lover to find him with song. “Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared. The use of imagery of the senses is effective here. For I consider poetry to be more musical in nature than literary text. The speaker claims to be hearing melodies emanating from the urn, which for me the sound transmission from the urn correlates to the finite aspects of fleeting love. While the nature of art of the urn seems to me to represent the exquisiteness and infinity of the universe. Indeed, the sounds of silence from art is akin to vastness of space and time. “She cannot fade, though, thou hast not thy bliss,” (line19). Keats is asking the readers to not grieve for him. Because, her beauty will not diminish over time it is everlasting.

What is time? Time is inevitable. It is a constant that continues on and on. Along with time comes change. As time goes on, change grows stronger. In the sonnet, When I do count the clock that tells the time, the persona discusses time in a sense of change. Everything around us changes. People change, animals change, plants change, the world changes, views change, and even society changes. When analyzing this sonnet we can see that the persona uses descriptive words to convey an image, symbolism and metaphors create a deeper meaning, and an original but unique rhyme scheme to create a relationship between the lines of the sonnet.

John Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is written through the power of eternity, beauty and truth regardless of existence, as Wordsworth showed likewise. Keats illustrated his poem through love in its sublime. For example, in the first stanza he says, “What wild ecstasy?” (Keats 930). If ecstasy is a huge feeling of