An ode is a relatively long, serious poem that discusses a noble subject in a thoughtful and dignified manner. John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" shows all the characteristics composing a Horatorian ode, a consistent rhyme scheme (ABABCDE followed by a final CDE varying in order), the ode follows a definite meter of iambic pentameter and consists of five ten line stanzas. At first glance, the poem brings forth a light tone, one of wonder and amazement about the beauty of the Grecian urn. However, a deeper insight into structure and the more important literary devices reveals the underlying meanings of the ode arising from which are far more serious themes and issues.
             The first stanza of the poem depicts the artistic talent of the pictures painted upon the urn, as the speaker seems to peer into the side of the urn whilst standing before it. The last of lines of the Stanza consists of seven rhetorical questions, the speaker asks:
             "... What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and trimbles? What wild ecstasy?"(Line 9-10) The urn cannot respond to him, and his line of questioning is abandoned as he continues to peer into the side of the urn. One of the speaker's principal points about the urn is that it is free from time, everlasting, never having to worry over death and aging. However with this the urn is suspended in time, unable to experience life because it is not life. The use of the rhetorical question highlights this, the urn is unable to return contact with the speaker, it is free from time, yet simultaneously frozen in it.
             The second stanza refers to a different picture that has been carved into the side of the urn. A young man seems to be playing a pipe to his lover as the sit together beneath a glade of trees. The speaker complements the piper in that his melodies are sweeter than a mortal's: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter; therefore, ye pipes...