Ode on a Grecian Urn - Keats

Keats was one of the most remarkable poets in English literature. Though he died young yet, he left a permanent mark of his matchless intellect. Here, we are concerned to analyse one of his masterly fabricated, ardently conceived, beautifully exposed and matchlessly versified odes i.e., ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’.

In this ode, he treats with the subject of transitoriness of human life and immortality of art. Keats possessed a strong imagination. He gases at the urn and is transported into an intuitive condition. He expresses his wonder at the long life of the urn and appreciates the charming and fascinating scene carved on the surface of the urn.

“Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,

Thou foster-child of silence and slow time.”

 

The beautiful scene is surrounded by an enchanting silence. The poet calls the urn a nursling of silence. Its beauty has been hidden from the eyes of the explorers for centuries. The poet calls the urn;

“Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

 A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme.”

The poet negates his identity and is lost into the scene. He focuses his attention towards the scene and exclaims with unmeasurable delight that the whole scene has been marvelously carved. Ardent lovers, peerless maidens, lulling sounds of pipes and timbrels and wild ecstasy are the things to be appreciated. These things activate the poet’s soul and his excited emotions begin to work. Hence, the poet concocts a beautiful story out of this inanimate scene. In the second stanza, the poet boldly asserts;

“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

Are sweeter; ………………………………… .”

The poet implores to the carved piper to carry on playing his soft and enchanting song. He also mentions that piper’s song may not be heard by the sensual ear rather, that is meant for imaginative perception. Meaning thereby, that the world of imagination is preferable to the real world because a hearty communion with imaginary things sooths our injured souls and wounded sentiments.

The scene of lover and his beloved shows that their excited emotions and their hot love will never relax from the highest pitch of intensity. In this way, the poet proves the immortality of art over human life.

In the third stanza, the poet harps on the same string and addresses to the beautiful branches of the trees. According to him, spring will never over and they will enjoy everlasting bliss.

In the concluding stanza, the poet addresses to the genuine monument of art i.e., Urn. He says that it is admirably decorated with sculptured men and women, flowers and boughs etc. the scene is depicted on the urn is as incomprehensible as eternity itself is. Our mental exertion on knowing about eternity may result in the production of baffled and confused feelings. Our sweaty strive to grasp the infinite can avail us nothing.

“When old age shall this generation waste,

Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe.”

The urn will sooth and delight the humanity with its beauty just like a close bosom friend. We need not know more than this fundamental maxim which Keats considers to the sum and substance of wisdom;

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty — that is all.”

Mathew Arnold says in this connection;

“To see things in their beauty is to see things in their truth.”

Keats took poetry to the Alpine peak and the heights reached by him could not be kep0t by the later poets. He was possessor of manifold qualities. He wrote this ode in 1819.

To conclude, we may say unhesitatingly that Keats has penned this ode with his extraordinary intellect and imagination. The ode is thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Hellenism.