Ode on a Grecian Urn

Part 1) In general, I thought the poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” by John Keats, was quite interesting. He wrote the poem based on illustrations which were embedded into an old Grecian urn. The author took history in artwork and turned it into a lively poem, which showed the life and love of the time. The last stanza showed the turn by describing that such a scene came from this marble pot and how the important message of the story was written in a way which made it seem as if the urn was actually saying it.


Part 2) The urn shows images of an ancient village in which the speaker brings to life by taking the artwork from the artifact and turning its pictures into poetry. On the urn, the past of a village can be seen through drawings explaining history in a unique way. A historian is stated in the poem showing how the artwork explains the life of a village which does not exist in this time period. The artifacts lesson was located in “Tempe or the dales of Arcady,” which are places of poetry and beauty. The urn shows us that such a place is filled with sweet melodies and young everlasting love. The statement, “Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss but for ever wilt thou love,” shows that the urn is depicting the young who are in a deep love but cannot act upon it. Later the poem states, “All breathing human passion far above leaves a heart high-sorrowful,” showing these young lovers sexual desires, but such passion they exhibit cannot be, leaving their hearts full of sorrow and pain. Happy is repeated numerous times showing how love is in the air but also exaggerating the word for the lovers aren’t happy, for their passion cannot be. The first four stanzas depict the life of the little village as if the town existed, making the painting come to life in feeling the love and lust of the time. The last stanza clarifies the poem in a depiction of the urn for it states, “Of marble men,” and “thou silent form.” Such statements show that the people are marble for they are carved into the urn and are of silent form for they are a picture of the past. The conclusion the speaker of the poem wants you to reach is described in the last two lines which state, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all, Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” The speaker places such a line in quotes to make it more powerful as if the urn came alive and said it. Such a verse is saying artwork is a type of beauty but is also a depiction of the truth, providing one with facts from evidence not written. The urn teaches us such a lesson of beauty and truth by showing how the truth of the past can be displayed through a type of exquisite marble art. We would never understand the truth of history if it hadn’t been recorded in artworks or writings, which are beautiful in themselves.