Ode on a Grecian Urn: Plot Summery: The poet examines a Greek funeral vase and the images embossed on it. â The Ode is like a trail of thought provoked by the motifs embossed on the Urn. The images arouse the poet to contemplate the irony of life and art. The latter offers eternity ("She cannot fade") while the former cannot separate the shadow of death from itself ("When old age shall this generation waste"). So while the drawings are lifeless they contain a perfection and immortality which their human counterparts can only dream of.
             Yet, the action which the images depict are halted and frozen never able to reach their climax or finality- for example:
             "Fair youth...thou canst not leave ...
             Bold lover...never canst thou kiss..."
             The poet and his poem conversely have freedom granted to them by their mobility in time. Though both come at a cost: mortal lovers may become sated after achieving their goal; the lovers in the art on the other hand must forever remain unsatisfied.
             Nevertheless, it is this very aspect of art, the fact that it can remain untainted by time that fascinates and possibly appeals to Keats.
             Keats sees the mystery of the soul mirrored in the mystery of art ("Thou...unravished bride of quietness") where both are passed the mortal realm of physicality and therefore admirable. This wonder and admiration is conveyed through the many questions he asks in the first stanza then concludes in the second stanza:
             "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
             Yet no mystery is solved, whether it is of life or of art, as the ending itself joins the endlessly circular argument of the poem, concluding nothing.
             Despite this there is a half conclusion made in that the poet's preference is communicated- for him the world of art is more appealing than the world in which he draws breadth ("A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme").
             The ...