ode on a Grecian urn
stanza 5 Lines 49-50 'Beauty is truth, truth beauty'--that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know
"beauty" to refer to more than just pretty pictures and writings. He's referring to anything that gives us that sense of grandeur and a meaning larger than ourselves, including the art of the universe: nature. Truth is not something that can be "thought." It's too remote and complicated, like the idea of eternity. It can only be felt. The speaker thinks that we don't need truths that can be expressed in words. The experience of beauty is enough
Stanza 1 Line 2 Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time
-A "foster-child" is a kid who is adopted and raised by people other than his or her own parents. -In this case, the urn has been adopted by "Silence" and "slow Time," -The point is that the pot is thousands of years old, and it has spent most of its time buried in ruble or tucked away in the corner of some museum or some private collector's house. But these were not its "original" circumstances. -The true "parent" of the urn would have been the Greek artist who created it. Furthermore, the pot might have had a ceremonial use rather than just being a pretty thing to look at
stanza 1 Line 5-7 What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
-Having established that the urn is a storyteller, now it's time to get to the story -This is the point when our speaker leans in to take a closer look at the urn. He's trying to figure what's going on in the carved pictures that encircle it. (We know this because every sentence for the rest of the stanza is a question that begins with "What," as in "What's that?" -Well, we got the flowers in line 4, and now we get the leaves. The story or "legend" on the pot is "leaf-fringed," which builds on the idea of the "Sylvan" or forest historian - "haunt" can just mean to exist in a certain place but it has that obvious connection to the dead. Indeed, we would expect that all the characters of a story that was first told thousands of years ago would be dead by now. And who are these characters, the speaker is wondering. Are they gods ("deities") or just normal human beings ("mortals") -In Ancient Greece, all the gods were represented as looking like people, so you wouldn't always be able to tell the difference between them and people in a picture -The speaker is also wondering where the story takes place -With his knowledge of Ancient Greece, he throws out a couple of names as guesses: Tempe and "Arcady," or Arcadia. (A "dale" is just a valley.)
Stanza 1 Line 1 Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness
-He talks to the urn as if it were a beautiful woman, like many people do nowadays with their cars.... -He calls her the "unravish'd bride of quietness," which, if taken literally, would mean that the urn is married to a guy named Quietness. But wait - urns can't get married, so he probably just means a really old pot and quietness go hand in hand The word "ravish" means to take or carry away something by force......and it means to be overcome with joy
stanza 2 Lines 13-14 Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
-He tells the pipes not to play to his "sensual" or physical ear, but to the metaphorical ear of his "spirit," or imagination. This spiritual ear is "more endear'd," or cherished, than his flesh-and-blood ears. -he asks the pipes to play "ditties of no tone," that is, songs that don't have any notes or sounds, at least in the real world. Imaginary songs. -creating music in his head?
stanza 2 Line 17-20 Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss
-Now he turns back to the first scene, the guys chasing the women, and he starts talking to one of the guys He calls him "bold," presumably because he has taken the initiative the chase his lady around the forest "I know you're hoping to make it with that nice girl you're chasing, but I've got bad news for you: It's not going to happen. Ever. I don't think you realize this, but you live on an urn, you're just a picture, and you can never move or change saying never twice really pushes the point across there's a definite upside to the situation: you'll always feel just as strongly about her, and she'll always be really beautiful
stanza 1 Lines 3-4 Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
-So far, the speaker has addressed the urn by a bunch of different names and titles. It's like saying, "You, John Doe, husband of Jane Doe, son of Susie and Richard Doe, lawyer at the firm of . . ." Now this line gives us the urn's job or profession, which is "Sylvan historian." -"Sylvan" is a just a word derived from Latin that refers to woods or forests. -In fact, the urn is a better storyteller than the poet. The urn tells stories using pictures, while the poet uses "rhymes." -The tale told by the urn is "flowery" and "sweet," as if you could bury your nose in it like a bee inside a daffodil.
stanza 3 Lines 28-30 All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue
-The word "all" suggests that the speaker knows he belongs to a much wider and more populous world than the people on the urn. In other words, the urn is like a tiny planet that is frozen in time while all around it people are moving and breathing and carrying on with their lives. So if the speaker represents the "human passion" that looks down on this little world from "far above," When he looks at the happy lovers, the speaker's heart becomes "high-sorrowful and cloy'd." In other words, he feels a dramatic, woe-is-me kind of sadness To be "cloy'd" is to have too much of a good thing The speaker is overpowered by his excitement, and instead of a warm and pleasant "panting," he feels feverish, with a "burning forehead," and desperately thirsty, with "a parching of tongue." He's like a guy stuck in the desert. But instead of water, he craves love.
stanza 3 Lines 23-24 And, happy melodist, unwearied, For ever piping songs for ever new
-These lines make us think that the speaker is still talking about the second scene of the urn: the young musician playing the pipes under a tree. -Now he calls him a "melodist." Unlike, say, the piano, you can't play both melody and harmony on the pipes. You have to pick one, and the most obvious choice is to play a melody also describes him as happy He is also "unwearied," which means he never gets tired. In line 24 the speaker says that the songs played by the musician are always fresh and new. Again, that's because the world of the urn never changes It would be as if our world froze while you were listening to the radio, so whatever was on the Top-40 station would always be considered hip and catchy
stanza 4 Lines 35-37 What little town by river or sea shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
-We can now piece together the whole third scene. There's a priest, a cow, a green altar, and a crowd of people following behind in anticipation of the sacrifice. The speaker infers that this crowd must have come from somewhere, from some "little town," but the town isn't depicted, so he has to imagine what it must look like small fortress called a "citadel" This truly is a perfect world. Everyone is outside, enjoying the weather and looking forward to the ritual. The town is "emptied" because it is a "pious" or holy morning.
stanza 2 Lines 11-12 Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
-We think there are a total of three different scenes depicted on the urn, and this is the second. -As in the first scene, there is music playing. The music is being played on "pipes," which is like a primitive version of a flute. Unlike the wild party music of the first stanza, these pipes are "soft." -He treats the scenes on the urn as if they were real places and events, and not just a depiction of a place. Real people are actually "living" on the urn, but they are frozen in time -The pipe-player actually is playing a song, but you can't hear the song because urns don't make sounds. The speaker is imagining what the song would song like, and he thinks this imaginary song inside his head is better than anything he has heard with his ears He tells the "soft pipes" to keep playing, even though he's the one who is making the pipes play, by imagining them
stanza 1 Line 8-10 What men or gods are these? what maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
-a bunch of lustful guys chasing a bunch of nice girls around and trying to get some action. Very often the males would be half-man, half-goat-type creatures called "satyrs," but Keats doesn't mention anything about satyrs so we can't jump to that conclusion. If you want to have a more sinister interpretation, you can imagine that the women are being chased against their will. (Unfortunately, the line between rape and consensual sex was often extremely blurry in Greek myths.) -loth is reluctant or unwilling -In the picture, the guys are chasing the women in "mad pursuit," which the women "struggle to escape." It wouldn't make much sense to depict a serious chase scene and then include people playing instruments like "pipes and timbrels" (a timbrel is like a tambourine)......so maybe more of a reluctant tease from the women - "wild ecstasy."...............On the whole, everyone looks happy.. But not just happy as in simply content. We're talking rowdy, crazy, best-party-of-my-life happiness
stanza 5 Lines 44-45 Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold pastoral!
He says that the urn is so mysterious and baffling that it's impossible to think about. Our speaker uses the word "tease," which has at least two meanings. The first is the one we're familiar with: mockery. The second is to separate or disentangle, like you might "tease" apart the nest of wires behind your computer. We think this second meaning is actually the primary one here. The poet compares the experience of looking at the urn to thinking about eternity, an idea so lofty and hard to understand that trying to think about it is like not thinking at all. "Cold Pastoral..........Pastoral imagery concerns nature and simple country life, so it's an appropriate word in the context of images of peaceful towns, young lovers, and bright, green trees................They sound more like a put-down - like the speaker changed his mind after all his talk about happiness and warm bodies. He might be accusing the urn of being distant and uncaring. But maybe he likes how the world of the urn seems so foreign from human life that it's hard to even think about. You might compare the feeling to looking at remote stars and planets, which seem cold and indifferent but also provide a sense of beauty and comfort.
stanza 3 Line 25 More happy love! more happy, happy love!
He thinks the music and "love" go hand in hand, so more music means more love. He's like the crowd at a concert clapping its hands and shouting, "Another! Two more songs! Ten more songs!"
Who wrote Ode on a Grecian Urn
John Keats
stanza 3 Line 26-27 For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, For ever panting, and for ever young;
Line 26 refers to the bodies of the women, which are "warm and still to be enjoy'd." Line 27 refers to both men and women, who are "panting" from their chase. the speaker keeps using the words "for ever" to make the point that the people on the urn are frozen in time
stanza 4 Line 32-34 To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
Now our speaker talks to the priest on the urn, asking him, "Hey, where are you headed?" He wants to know to "what green altar" he is taking a cow ("heifer") In classical times, an altar was a place where sacrifices were carried out, and this one is covered with leaves and vegetation that make it green. The poor cow must know what's coming, because it moans or "lows" at the sky -Its sides ("flanks") are dressed in a string or "garland" of flowers. This cow is a holy object, destined for the gods.
stanza 4 Line 31 Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
Now the speaker is looking at the third scene on the urn, which depicts an animal sacrifice. Just as in stanza I, the speaking is leaning in and trying to figure out what is going on in the scene. In stanza I he asked "What," and now he asks, "Who?" There seem to be people coming to watch the sacrifice.
stanza 3 Lines 21-22 Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu
The branches of the trees never lose their leaves because the world of the urn never changes In this case, it's always springtime, and the trees are always green To bid "adieu" is to say "goodbye" in French with the expectation that you won't see someone again for a long time Fortunately for the tree branches, they never have to say goodbye to the Spring, which will never be replaced by summer in this world
stanza 4 Lines 38-40 And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul to tell Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
The speaker talks to the town to inform it that its streets will always be "silent" and "desolate" of people. Although the speaker knows that everyone is headed to a sacrifice, he doesn't know what the sacrifice is for, and he can never find out because there is "not a soul, to tell" the reason for the holy day.
stanza 5 Lines 46-48 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,
Whoa, here comes "old age" like the villain with a flamethrower in an action movie to "waste" an entire generation of people - the speaker's generation The speaker imagines that after everyone in his generation is dead, the urn will still be around. The problems or "woe" of the present generation will have been replaced by new problems......new woe But the urn, like a good therapist and "a friend of man," won't be lacking in advice to give new generations
stanza 2 Lines 15-16 Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare
the musician was a good-looking young guy ("fair youth") sitting under the trees -it means that the guy under the tree will always be playing the same song, in the same pose forever! the weather will always be nice and the trees will never be "bare," without leaves
stanza 5 Lines 41-43 O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought, With forest branches and the trodden weed;
the speaker suddenly gets excited again. It's like someone stuck a shot of adrenaline in his arm He starts yelling about the beautiful appearance of the urn, as if noticing it for the first time. "Attic shape," which just means it has a distinctively Greek appearance, and its "fair attitude," which means a graceful posture. (A "brede" is a braid, like a braid of hair.) The lovers are "braided" together in the chiseled marble "overwrought," or too complicated. There's just too much detail and craftsmanship. This might remind us of the use of the word "cloy'd" in stanza III, another occasion where the speaker thought that the urn's artistry was just too rich. "forest branches" and the "trodden weed" that seem to be choking the poem with vegetation