Assignment 103 : A Summary & Analysis of John Keats 'Ode On a Grecian Urn'
This blog is a part of an assignment for the Paper 103, Literature of the Romantics, Sem – 1,2023.A
Summary & Analysis of John Keats 'Ode On a Grecian Urn'
Table of Contents :
- Personal Information
- Assignments Details
- Abstract
- Keywords
- Introduction
- 'Ode On a Grecian Urn' Summary
- Stanza 1 to 5
- 'Ode On a Grecian Urn' Analysis
- Conclusion
- Reference
Personal Information :
Name : Reshma Yunusbhai Bilakhiya
Batch : M.A. Sem - 1(2023 - 2024)
Enrollment no : 5108230008
E - mail address : reshmabilakhiya21@gmail.com
Roll no: 27
Assignment Details :
Topic : A Summary & Analysis of John Keats 'Ode On a Grecian Urn'
Paper & Subject Code : 103 Literature of the Romantic & 22394.
Submitted to: Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English,
MKBU, Bhavnagar
Date of Submission : 1st December, 2023.
Abstract :
Keywords:
Grecian Urn, Beauty & Truth, Transience of Life, Idealization, Aesthetic Appreciation.
Introduction :
The Ode on a Grecian Urn was composed in the spring of 1819 and published in 1820. The Greek vase which inspired Keats was no figment of his imagination, but has a real existence. This vase is still preserved in the garden at Holland House, Kensington. It is also likely that the inspiration of this poem might have been partly derived from the Elgin Marbles (large collections of old Greek sculptures brought to England by Lord Elgin, a British general and ambassador. They are now in the British Museum).
'Ode On a Grecian Urn' Summary
Stanza 1 to 5:
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-fringed 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?
Stanza 1:
The poet sees a Grecian urn which has not been affected by the onslaught of time and has been lying silently on the lap of time. The urn gives the record of a past age more graphically than poetry. Its borders are encircled with garlands of leaves. The poet asks whether the figures depicted on the urn are of gods or men or both, whether they are from Tempe or Arcadia, who the maidens trying to escape the pursuit of mad lovers and the musicians playing on pipes and timbrels are.
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!
Stanza 2:
The music that is listened to by the spirit is sweeter than the music heard by physical or “sensual” ears. The youth represented on the urn as playing on the pipe will always go on playing under the tree which will never shed their leaves. And the lover who is hotly pursuing the girl will never succeed in catching and kissing her. But he need not be sad, because he will never cease to love her and his beloved will always be lovely.
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,
Forever 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.
Stanza 3:
The trees sculptured on the urn will ever remain in their spring freshness and the musician will always continue to pipe new songs without being tired. The warmth of the young man’s love will never cool down.
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.
Stanza 4:
The poet sees a sacrificial procession depicted on the um. There is a crowd of people; a priest is leading á heifer decorated with garlands to the sacrificial altar. The crowd might have come out of some town situated by a river, or on the seashore or on a mountain. The town must have been empty at the time, and it must ever remain empty.
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."
Stanza 5:
The urn is a genuine specimen of Greek art sculpturing a number of men and maidens, branches and weeds. It seduces us from the ordinary life of thought into the extraordinary life of the imagination. It will continue to exist, even when the present generation will die out, and in the midst of sufferings as yet unknown to us, it will teach us the lesson that beauty and truth are identical the only lesson we ought to know.
'Ode On a Grecian Urn' Analysis:
The Ode on a Grecian Urn is one of the greatest odes of Keats and shows his poetic genius at its maturity.
The Ode on a Grecian Urn has a neat perfect and organic structure. It has clear-cut three parts: introduction, main subject and conclusion, corresponding to what Aristotle calls a beginning, a middle and an end. The first stanza gives the introduction, the second, third and fourth stanzas the main subject, and the fifth the conclusion.
The introduction presents the urn in its mystery and shows what questions it poses to the poet. The main subject consists of the scenes on the urn as Keats sees them with an imaginative insight into the relation between art and life. The conclusion answers the questions posed in the introduction and announces the message of the urn to mankind.
The Ode is a representative poem of Keats. It illustrates all the essential features of Keats’s poetry-his Hellenism, his concept of beauty, his sensuousness, his meditativeness, his felicity of expression.
Hellenism is one of the most remarkable features of Keats’s poetry. The Greek spirit was re-incarnated in him so much so that Shelley was impelled to say, “He was a Greek!” The Ode on a Grecian Urn reveals his Hellenism most fully. The subject is an urn, a relic of ancient Greek sculpture. The urn is embossed with the human figures marked by the animal vitality of the ancient Greeks and with scenes that vividly reproduce the ancient Hellenic life with its religious rituals and animating faith. The “little town by river or sea-shore or mountain-built with peaceful citadel” is as Greek a thing as anything in Homer or Theocritus. The Greek sense of beauty and Greek sensuousness mark the Ode.
Conclusion:
'Ode on a Grecian Urn' concludes by highlighting the poem's exploration of the timeless beauty captured on the urn and its reflection on the enduring power of art. Keats prompts contemplation on the contrast between idealized scenes and the transience of life, leaving readers with a profound appreciation for the ability of art to preserve and convey eternal truths.
Reference:
By. “Ode on a Grecian Urn: Summary and Analysis.” All About English Literature, 8 Aug. 2021, www.eng-literature.com/2020/12/ode-on-grecian-urn-summary-analysis.html.
Keats, John. “Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats.” Poetry Foundation, Nov. 2023, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44477/ode-on-a-grecian-urn.
Word Count : 1,493
Image : 1
Thank You!!!
.jpeg)
No comments:
Post a Comment