Ode To Grecian Urn Essay, Research Paper
A Critical Analysis- John Keats, & # 8220 ; Ode on a Grecian Urn & # 8221 ;
The Romantic Period introduced a assortment of composing manners. The writers of the
early 18th century altered many of the earlier romantic pieces. The early authors
primary country of concern was nature. It was non until the ladder portion of the eighteenth
century that writers began to concentrate on the supernatural every bit good as nature. John Keats
alone manner of composing gave the universe a great regard for his work. Keats felt his poesy
should consequence the readers emotions, and merely great poesy could travel the reader to the
point of enjoyment. In making this Keats felt the lone manner to accomplish his end of & # 8220 ; traveling his
audience & # 8221 ; was to give up to uncertainnesss, or by believing much of life is unaccountable,
particularly human existences, who strive on emotion that guide their wants and demands.
In the & # 8220 ; Ode on a Grecian Urn & # 8221 ; , the urn represents a narrative without respect to clip.
( Bloom 16 ) . The unchanging marble apprehensions clip through the urn. ( Bloom 16 ) .
& # 8220 ; When old age shall this coevals waste, Thou shalt remain & # 8221 ; ( lines 46-47 ) ,
depict the unchanging marbles and the characters on the urn. With the unchanging
marble, the urn has slowed clip towards infinity, doing artwork immortal ( blossom 16 ) .
This shows the immortal side of the Greek urn physical visual aspect. The unchangeable
urn besides displays a narrative of an mundane topographic point. The urn show the people with their endless
workss.
& # 8220 ; Fair young person, beneath the trees, 1000 canst non go forth
Thy vocal, nor of all time can those trees be bare ;
Bold Lover, ne’er, ne’er canst thou buss,
Tough winning near the goal- ye, do non sorrow ;
She can non melt, though thou hadt non thy cloud nine,
Everlastingly wilt 1000 love, and she be just! & # 8221 ; ( lines 15-20 ) .
Life is halted and can ne’er go on from this point. The just young person, the Bold Lover, the
trees of spring, and the season spring, can of all time go forth their eternal workss. Immortality of
the town is shown.
& # 8220 ; What small town by river or coast,
Or mountain-built with peaceable bastion,
Is empitied of this common people, this pious forenoon?
And, small town, thy streets forevermore
Will be soundless be & # 8230 ; & # 8221 ; ( lines 35 & # 8211 ; 39 ) .
The town will ne’er see people suppressing it, conveying solitariness and immorality throughout
the town. These are the advantages mortality give to the life. The subjects of
immortality and morality can be seen throughout & # 8220 ; Ode of a Grecian Urn. & # 8221 ; The
unchanging marble of the urn can be considered immortal merely as the narrative displayed on the
urn. The fact that the narrative on the urn can ne’er alter shows the disadvantage of being
immortal and the ground why morality can be better.
The verse form begins by examining the reader with a series of inquiries presented by the
talking topic. Keats so permits the urn to talk without speech production, to & # 8220 ; express a
flowery narrative more sweetly than rhyme. & # 8221 ; Keats has problem acquiring outside of the replies he
continually struggle with during his composing calling. He presents a series of inquiries he
expects the urn, or the representative of the urn to reply. Scott says, & # 8220 ; the ode does non
Begin with the talkers attempt to vie with the urn, but with a court to its strange
family tree and its self-contradictory powers of fluency & # 8221 ; ( Scott 135 ) . Scott besides says, Keats
instantly becomes impatient with the urn & # 8217 ; s silence and seeks to enforce his ain duologue
on the bing surface of the urn. Andrew Bennett recognizes Keat & # 8217 ; s desire to come in the
duologue stating, & # 8220 ; Keats ever seems about to split into narrative & # 8221 ; ( Bennett 130 ) . He
appears from the beginning to oppugn the urn, so subsequently adds his replies. Keats now
hangouts the reader at the terminal of the verse form by oppugning the nature of truth represented by
the urn. Stillenger accurately states in & # 8220 ; The Hoodwinking of Madeline & # 8221 ; , the inquiry of
the urn, & # 8220 ; Who said what to whom at the terminal of & # 8216 ; Ode on a Greek Urn? & # 8221 ; ( Stillinger 167-
173 ) . Truth is related to whom we identify as the speech production topic. Person or something
is turn toing the reader straight. Person is defined as & # 8220 ; a friend of adult male & # 8221 ; . Keats sees the
& # 8220 ; happy lover & # 8221 ; every bit good as the & # 8220 ; object of desire & # 8221 ; , the three boughs and the piper. The urn
contains a scene equivocal in significance. He presents inquiries within the first through
Forth stanzas. He demands beginnings, names and significance in respects to specified events. The
unreciprocated inquiries are left for the reader to reply.
Jason Muro says, the ode inscribes a sine moving ridge, with five distinguishable points along its length.
First, the poet is steeped in desperation brought approximately b the universe & # 8217 ; s grim flex. Second,
upon come ining the urn, he is filled with hope he has found the counterpoison for desperation. Third,
he finds his hope unfounded, the counterpoison was a placebo. Fourth, he closely examined the
urn, he embodies a panic more intense than the desperation from which he sought alleviation. The
Placebo is in fact toxicant. Last, he embraces transeunt conditions of the universe as an counterpoison
to the panics of the urn. The point of beginning of Keats initial job from which he wants
to ascene go his point of redemption he want to mount by the terminal of the verse form.
Keats became apart of his poesy by going all of its characters in one facet or
another. He is the & # 8220 ; unheard tune that is ne’er truly heard or appreciated in its
life-time & # 8221 ; . He is the tree that will ne’er travel bare, because he died during the spring season of
the twelvemonth. He is the bold lover that will ne’er snog yet will forever love. Line after line
Keats is the representative of the objects and people he describes. The happy boughs,
happy melodist, and the pining lover.
I believe the poet and the urn to one in the same. The inquiry is, What was the
significance of & # 8220 ; beauty is truth, truth is beauty? & # 8221 ; Stiller believes it to intend, & # 8220 ; face value, the
statement is false, and Keats knew this and understood this, but possibly considered it a
simple, sarcastic equation that would vouch a frivolous, superficial being in a
society consumed with who & # 8217 ; s who. & # 8221 ; ( 200 ) . Keats was doing a jeer of the ideal,
& # 8216 ; everlastingly happy & # 8217 ; lifestyle by recognizing no 1 is genuinely happy no affair how thing appear to
the outside universe. The urn may hold been representative of Keat & # 8217 ; s dream of a short
life style. A group whose slogan was & # 8220 ; Beauty is truth, truth beauty, & # 8221 ; and were at that place beliefs
to their terminal. What was the true forfeit Keats endured within this work? Was so much
of his clip spent making this fictional urn, merely to inform society of his concluding analogy of his
clip on Earth? Did Keats see himself to be the & # 8220 ; Sylvan historiographer? & # 8221 ; Had he mastered
the superficial regulations to life and life on Earth? Was he allowing the reader in on his theory?
of & # 8220 ; Beauty is truth, truth beauty? & # 8221 ; These are inquiries that may stay unreciprocated by
Keats, but remain a enigma to whomever has the chance to research & # 8220 ; Ode on a
Greek Urn. & # 8221 ;
Taking a expression into to today & # 8217 ; s society, we find the same belief. Looking to be
physically perfect is the new tendency. We worship Hollywood stars and seek to pattern our ain
lives after them. The media makes the universe of Hollywood perfect and we sometimes have
a hard clip decoding between our universe and their universe. There are many of us who
aspire to be like the & # 8216 ; stars & # 8217 ; yet there is a concealed message within the lives they lead. & # 8220 ; Beauty
is truth, truth beauty. & # 8221 ; This message is evident whenever a & # 8216 ; star & # 8217 ; is in the limelight.
Society believes in the world behind the message & # 8220 ; Beauty is truth, truth beauty. & # 8221 ; We want
to believe this message is the key to all our felicity. We all at one clip or another within
our lives have tried to populate harmonizing to our favourite famous person, merely as Keats idolized the
people projected on his urn. Keats life unluckily ended before it of all time began yet he was
able to recognize despite his grief and unwellness, that this is about ne’er true. No affair
how perfect things appear to be on the exterior, it & # 8217 ; s wholly different when you attempt to
set the other individual places on and takes a amble. In other words, things are non what they
ever look to be.
