Physical Value in Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn

Physical Value in Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn

The poetry of John Keats contains many references to physical things, from

nightingales to gold and silver-garnished things, and a casual reader might be

tempted to accept these at face value, as simple physical objects meant to evoke

a response either sensual or emotional; however, this is not the case. Keats, in

the poem Ode Upon a Grecian Urn, turns the traditional understanding of physical

objects on its head, and uses them not solid tangible articles, but instead as

metaphors for and connections to abstract concepts, such as truth and eternity.

In the poem, Keats dismisses the value of physical things as only corporeal for

what he feels is more substantial and lasting, the indefinite and abstruse

concepts behind them.

It would be beneficial to gain a historical perspective on the poem. Ode

Upon a Grecian Urn was written at the height of Keats' creative output, in May

of 1819; in this same month he wrote the Ode Upon a Nightingale and the Ode Upon

Melancholy. It is worth noting that two of the subjects of these odes are

physical things, because Keats is chiefly remembered for his writing about

physical, sensual things. Yet he betrays this attempt at classification; the

Grecian urn is more than just an ancient piece of pottery which Keats values

because it has in some ways defeated time ("when old age shall this generation

waste / thou shalt remain. . . ", lines 46-47) and because it will never cease

depicting youth and gaiety (". . .that cannot shed / Your leaves, nor ever bid

the Spring adieu", lines 21-22). Keats values this urn because of the message it

conveys (directly or indirectly, a topic which will reviewed later), ...

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...- C - E. There is alliteration also in the poem; "silence and slow",

"leaf-fringed legend", "Ah, happy, happy boughs" and "Of marble men and maidens

overwrought" are examples of such.

In conclusion, in the poem Ode Upon a Grecian Urn, the poet John Keats uses

language and the object of his poem, a urn from Ancient Greece, to link abstract

actions and concepts to physical, real, concrete things, in many different ways.

Using iambic pentameter, and a unique rhyme scheme, and some devices of

figurative language, Keats' sets up a melodic, beautifully flowing poem which

well serves the purpose he gives it. Truly, abstract images and notions are

seamlessly, subtly connected to the physical world around them.

Works Cited

Hunter, J. Paul 1999. The Norton Introduction to Poetry. New York, New York. Ode Upon a Grecian Urn, pages 323-324.