Analysis Of Ode On A Grecian Urn By John Keats

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An “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats is one of five great odes, characterized by great technical difficulty. The speaker, presumably Keats, addresses an “unravish’d bride,” which is the first of many figurative language techniques used in the ode, in five stanzas, each stanza complete with a separate subject. It is assumed that Keats was diagnosed with tuberculosis as he was composing this poem, which can explain the interest with immortality throughout the narrative. The structure Keats crafts along with his usage of figurative language allows for the overall theme of the poem to be presented; however, Keats usage of paradoxes implies a dual theme with several lines of his ode, which is the reason as to why there are several interpretations The “foster-child of silence and slow time” expresses a fertile union between an artist and a skill, which resulted in the creation of the urn. The artist, whom is now dead and forgotten, left behind his urn, or his “child,” to ages of “slow time,” which explains the “foster-child” metaphor Keats began the ode with. Keats’s usage of the word “still” in the first line of the first stanza raises questions as to whether the word is an adjective, suggesting the urn is unmoving or not yet deflowered, or an adverb, suggesting the urn’s static condition as abstract One theory says the final lines are spoken from the urn, addressing the speaker, because of the lack of punctuation Keats fails include in the couplet. However, many people believe that the final couplet is spoken from the speaker, addressing the urn as he learned from the encounter with the urn. However it is interpreted, it is evident the final lines of the ode are vital in understanding the theme of the poem. One theory even suggests that the final two lines of the poem are Keats answering his own questions posed earlier in the poem (Smith). Because of the dual interpretations the lines have, it can be said that Keats purposefully left it as ambiguous to correlate with the dual themes of the

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