Oct 28 2009
Ode on a Grecian Urn
“Ode on a Grecian Urn” is the detailed journey of the poet, John Keats’ mind, as he discovers that the urn is a timeless perfection that only art can capture. The poem takes on a theme of frozen time, portrayed by the urns images of never-changing lovers, a tree that will never lose its leaves, and melodies of musicians that will never be heard. The lovers can never fulfill their desires because they are frozen in time, but they will stay forever young. The musician will always play, but never be heard. The poem represents Keats’ philosophy that beauty can only exist in an artificial state, not real time, and is embellished in the immutable, lifeless, Grecian Urn. Beauty is something that is eternal, not life.
From my research I learned that the last couplet of the poem is the most recognized part of the poem and often stands alone. It is open for interpretation, but it reveals how Keat feels about the existence of beauty. There is an overall paradox of the poem suggested by the dynamic pictures on the urn. The urn is made of cold, lifeless stone, but the pictures on it are full of life. However, the passion of the pictures can never be fulfilled because they are frozen. This proposes irony.
The urn acts as an idealism to the poem and slow time. Keat uses a negative tone to describe the advantages of frozen time, but the earn is expressed as striking and exists in the real world but is not effected by real time. Its beauty will stay forever, untouched by time.
http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/urn.html#general
http://www.articlemyriad.com/meaning_analysis_ode_grecian_urn_keats.htm
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