The Eternal Truth

1211 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: In ode on a gracian urn keats as an escapist

The dictionary defines eternity as something lasting forever; with no beginning and no ending. John Keats’ poem, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” juxtaposes the mind boggling idea of eternity and the urn, where everything remains unchanged, frozen in perpetuity. Through poetic devices, Keats is able to effectively draw attention to a desire to escape reality and seek repose in the ideal (Wigod 58). The poet makes effective use of metaphors, repetition, imagery and point of view in order to draw parallels to the urn, presenting it as a motif for aestheticism and the eternal beauty of art.
The first stanza is full of vivid imagery; descriptions of the urn itself. Comparing the urn to a “still unravish’d bride of quietness” serves two purposes; the scenery inscribed on the urn is forever unchanging, unravished, like a bride before consummation of her wedding (Patterson 48). The word “still” also suggests the motionless, silent nature of the urn; it is pure, untouched, perfection, similar to a bride (Bai). Keats crafted his poem in an articulate manner, using point of view to further deepen the poem’s meaning; in the first stanza, the speaker is standing apart from the urn, they are physically only gazing at it, connected only by what they see; a “sylvan historian” speaks from the past, telling of the “leaf-fring’d legend” of gods and mortals. The urn itself is silent, an inanimate object, however, it conveys a detailed account of life and beauty to the speaker. As would anyone, the speaker questions the urn’s depictions and thus Keats introduces the second stanza, where the point of view changes. Now, the speaker is not gazing at the urn from afar, rather engulfed in its beauty, imaginatively encompassed into the scene itself.
In the second...

... middle of paper ...

... most enjoy in life; warm, youthful, amorous love. These things must stay ever-changing and spontaneous, in order to retain their exclusive exuberance (Wigod 61). Passionate, youthful love belongs to real life, not art; although art can show “marble men and maidens”, life on the urn is still cold, motionless; art can only represent life, it merely scratches the surface when it comes to depicting warm, fluid life, filled with fervor.
Keats poem, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” reveals a flaw in the human condition; just like the speaker, humans want two impossible things; life, in its always changing, fullest form and the ability to permanently hold on to these special moments. However, after the speaker has viewed the urn from afar and at a more personal level, they subsequently realize that this seemingly ideal world is implicitly free of all imperfections (Paterson 53).

Show More
Related

  • There Are Delicacies By Earle Birney Analysis

    1404 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poetry is a part of literature that writers used to inform, educate, warn, or entertain the society. Although the field has developed over the years, the authenticity of poetry remains in its ability to produce a meaning using metaphors and allusions. In most cases, poems are a puzzle that the reader has to solve by applying rhetoric analysis to extract the meaning. Accordingly, poems are interesting pieces that activate the mind and explore the reader’s critical and analytical skills. In the poem “There are Delicacies,” Earle Birney utilizes a figurative language to express the theme and perfect the poem. Specifically, the poem addresses the frangibility of the human life by equating it to the flimsy of a watch. Precisely, the poet argues that a human life is short, and, therefore, everyone should complete his duties in perfection because once he or she dies, the chance is unavailable forever.

    Read More

  • Ambiguity In The Monument By Elizabeth Bishop

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the text Bishop states, “The monument is one-third set against/ a sea; two thirds against a sky.” (line 18) It is suggested that the monument is one with nature. The narrator goes on to state, “A sea of narrow, horizontal boards/lies out behind our lonely monument,/its long grains alternating right and left/like floor-boards--spotted, swarming-still,/and motionless.” Here the author personifies the monument by describing it as “swarming-still”. The phrase swarming-still is contradictory because an object cannot move and be still at the same time. The narrator personifies the monument as to express its life-like qualities. The location of the monument is never stated. A second voice joins the poem and questions the location of their presence, “‘Where are we? Are we in Asia Minor,/ Or in Mongolia?’” (line 33) Without knowledge on the location of the monument it is difficult to know what it means. The narrator ponders on what the monuments purpose is, “An ancient promontory,/ an ancient principality whose artist-prince/ might have wanted to build a monument/ to mark a tomb or boundary, or make/ a melancholy or romantic scene of it…” (line 35) The narrator herself is unsure of who created the monument or why. This pushes the audience to develop their own perceptions as the narrator brainstorms about its significance. A voice separate from the narrator states, “‘But that queer sea looks made of wood,/half-shining,like a driftwood sea./And the sky looks wooden, grained with cloud./ It’s like a stage-set; it is all so flat!/Those clouds are full of glistening splinters!/What is that?’”(line 40) This voice questions the scenery surrounding the monument. The narrator states that, “It is the monument” This implies that the narrator perceives the surrounding environment to be part of the monument itself. Another voice says, “‘Why did you bring me here to see

    Read More

  • To His Coy Mistress And Youth's The Season Made For Joys

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Time is equated with constant decay throughout the entire poem, which is primarily shown in the speaker’s comparison of the concept of eternity to a desert. Love, and other concepts felt in life, are subject to this negative force of deconstruction over time, and are vanquished in death; this idea can be seen in the witty commentary at the end of the second stanza, “the grave’s a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace”

    Read More

  • Combined Experience of Suffering, Death and Love all at Once

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    John Keats’s illness caused him to write about his unfulfillment as a writer. In an analysis of Keats’s works, Cody Brotter states that Keats’s poems are “conscious of itself as the poem[s] of a poet.” The poems are written in the context of Keats tragically short and painful life. In his ...

    Read More

  • Bright Star essay

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    Keats presents his feelings on how he no longer wishes for impossible goals, and how it is much more preferable to enjoy life as much as possible. It is of no use longing for things we cannot have, and so we must learn to live with the myriad of things we already have, of these one in particular appeals to Keats: the warmth of human companionship and the passion of love.

    Read More

  • Poetry Analysis: "Ode On a Grecian Urn"

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...an Urn provided the nucleus to communicate his artistic philosophy. Keats use of convincing Grecian scenes of love, beauty, and truth bestowed upon the urn is an illustration to the enduring quality of art and its everlasting beauty. Nevertheless, the endeavor of everlasting happiness is only possible in a world populated by deities. Furthermore, I like to envision John Keats as poetic Eros forever flourishing in immortal youth and beauty. As Keats bestowed upon me copious illusions of beauty, truth and of eternity. Indeed, flooding the senses.

    Read More

  • La Belle Dam Sans Merci

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...epresents the ideal world, he saw life in the world. Now that he came in contact with Immortality, he cannot see any life in the world around him. He is lifeless ("palely loitering"), the forest is lifeless ("the sedge is withered"), and there is no music in the woods ("and no birds sing"). (Keats lines 46-48)

    Read More

  • Fear Of Death Essay

    2006 Words  | 5 Pages

    John Keats explores his fear of death in “When I have fears that I may cease to be” in the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet. The poem contains three quatrains that interlock his primary fears together, leading to a couplet that expresses his remedy and final thoughts. His primary fears are expressed with respect to the abab cdcd efef gg rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean Sonnet, with each fear contained in each rhyming quatrain. His first fear, in the first quatrain is dying without living up to his full potential as a writer, when he states, “Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain…” (2). This line indicates that he has not expressed through his pen, all that is on his mind, and leads into the second quatrain with the use of a semicolon which suggests that the next part of the poem is connecte...

    Read More

  • What Is The Hero In The Iliad

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...the fleeting innate qualities of human beings and their world that they have constructed, giving way to the idea that mortals should live their lives as honorably as possible, so that they will be remembered by their future generations. The impermanence of the human form and its creations is heavily referred to as neither can survive throughout time, however, their words and deeds can live on through stories. The mere existence of this poem can attest to this idea.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of On Sitting Down To Read King Lear Once Again

    1156 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the first few lines Keats alludes to the great romances of the previous ages as opposed to William Shakespeare's great tragedies. While it could be discerned that Keats is referring to his poem Endymion: A Poetic Romance, the underlying meaning of the lines remains. Keats writes "O golden tongued Romance, with serene lute!/ Fair plumed Syren Queen of far-away!/ Leave melodizing on this wintry day,/ Shut up thine olden pages and be mute." (Lines 1 - 4). Keats here is shutting out the idyllic romantic notions he cannot at this time cling to due to the ever present spectre of death that hangs above him. Keats forsakes the romantic here leaning instead toward the tragic, which is what he perceives his short life to be. In these opening lines Keats seems to be a desperate, and morose storyteller who forbids himself the taste of the ideal, regardless of how strong a pull romance has for him. Keats is forced to command the romance to "Shut up thine olden pages and be mute!" (4) in order to pull himself away from it. This shows not only the strong attraction romance holds for Keats, but also Keats' recognition of the Romance as a personified thing he can converse with and bid "Adieu!" (5). The use of ...

    Read More

  • Love And Love In Keats's Ode To Psyche

    797 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through the technical irregularities evident in the number of lines, rhyme scheme and even meter in each respective stanza, Keats constructs a playful sense about the poem; the poem develops to be more spontaneous than structured. Keats’ imagery contributes to the dreamlike sense about the poem and stresses the natural beauty of Psyche or the soul. The speaker experiences a journey realizing his desire to become a priest of Psyche, a worshipper of Psyche and inadvertently of his own soul. He transforms from questioning the lack of excitement surrounding Psyche to eventually igniting his own. The speaker becomes a priest of Psyche because he is able to praise his psyche himself without relying on the efforts of others.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of 'On Seeing The Elgin Marbles' By John Kelications

    1292 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his sonnet “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles,” John Keats uses Greek art as inspiration for a reflection on the inevitability of death and how in the end even his best memories may not feel good enough. The impending role that mortality has on his existence is shown through Keats’s careful use of similes, diction, and a quirk to the rhyme scheme. The generalized images that the words create and the cluttered meter contribute to Keats’s theme that memories crumble over time like the Elgin Marbles, and eventually, the memories may not seem like anything better than a waste of precious time.

    Read More

  • A Critical Analysis of Judith Wright's 'the Killer'

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first stanza, the poet seems to be offering a conventional romanticized view of Nature:

    Read More

  • 'Ode To A Nightingale And Ode On Melancholy'

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Ode to A Nightingale,” a prominent significance to Keats is his idea of the conflicted interplay in human life of living and death, mortal and immortal, and feeling versus the lack of feeling or inability to feel. “The ideal condition towards which Keats always strives because it is his ideal, is one in which mortal and immortal,…beauty and truth are one” (Wasserman). The narrator plunges into a dreamlike state when hearing a nightingale sing. As the nightingale sings, he shares its elation and feels the conflicting response of agony when he comes down from his dreamlike ecstasy and realizes that unlike the nightingale in his imagination, “Thou was not born for death, immortal Bird,” his life is finite (61). “Where palsy shakes a few, sad last gray hairs, where youth grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies” (25-26).

    Read More

  • What Does Ode On A Grecian Urn Mean

    769 Words  | 2 Pages

    The second stanza of John Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn” begins with the line, “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter.” With this line Keats is saying that while spoken word is important and beautiful, a picture is worth 1000 words. The first four lines of the stanza set the stage for the story of the Urn to be told, and there is a clear separation between the first four lines of the stanza and the last six. Keats makes this separation obvious with his rhyming scheme. The first four lines of the stanza go ABAB with B being an implied rhyme, and the last six lines go CDECED. Each line of the second stanza has ten syllables except the

    Read More

More about The Eternal Truth

Open Document