The Abstarct and the Tangible
in JOHN KEATS'S 'ODE ON A GRECIAN URN'John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is a poem that rests largely on the author's powerful imagination, and therefore his extensive use of imagery is one of the most attractive elements of the poem. Keats seems to be fascinated with the mystery of art and views beauty and love as a pure and unchanging form. The poem contains many references to physical things. A casual reader might accept these at face value, but Keats modifies the traditional understanding of physical objects and uses them not as tangible articles but instead as metaphors for and connections to abstract concepts, such as truth and eternity.This essay analyzes the text and searches for connections between the abstract and the tangible, and shows how in actuality physical things are perfect metaphors for abstract things. I shall explore this connection through each stanza of the poem, Keats use of imagery, his possible reasons for writing this poem and the possible outlooks concerning the final and most ambiguous fifth stanza. The poem starts with an introduction of the Grecian urn. The urn, passed down from centuries, exists outside of chronology - it does not age or die. This creates
The idea of the urn's immunity from the negative aspects of time continues in this stanza, and consists mostly of inquiries Keats makes of the urn. If it is the urn addressing mankind, then the phrase has rather the weight of an important lesson, that all mankind on earth should know that beauty and truth are one and the same. (Lines 11 and 12), "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard /Are sweeter", is a clever example of the above statement. He then allows the urn to speak without speaking, to "express / A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme" (Lines 3 - 4). If it is Keats addressing the urn, then it would seem to indicate his awareness of its limitations; the urn may not need to know anything beyond the equation of beauty and truth, but the complications of human life make it impossible for such a simple and self-contained phrase to express this knowledge sufficiently. Keats issues a series of questions, which he 'expects' the urn to answer. These unanswerable questions are then left open. By creating the urn, maybe Keats was representing a lifestyle that he always wanted to be a part of - a social circle whose adage was "Beauty is truth, truth beauty", and were in turn the words they lived by. They are both frozen in time and therefore her beauty will never fade and neither will his love. / A burning forehead, and a parching tongue"(Lines 26-30). He reinforces these links with observations of what is painted on the urn. Keats goes on to connect the abstract with the physical by connecting the abstract actions on the urn with the physical urn itself when he talks about how fortunate the urn is, that it will never experience old age, and weariness. The use of the verb 'lowing' is an example of Keats adroit use of imagery.
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Acceptance Essays
