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Ode On A Grecian Urn Critical Analysis
Ode On A Grecian Urn Critical Analysis
In the second stanza, the poet ceases his search after the identity of the
painted images and addresses them. To him,
Here Keats refers to Fanny Brawne with whom his love remained unachieved.
In the fifth stanza, the Keats addresses the urn in a different way. He calls it
Attic shape, Silent form and Cold pastoral. In this way, the urn is
personified. It will remain unchanged for the future generations and will
continue to teach that beauty and truth are inseparable.
The central thought of this ode is the unity of truth and beauty. According to
Keats, beauty and truth are not separate things but two sides of one and the
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To sum up, we may say that in Ode on a Grecian Urn, Keats emphatically
points out the difference between art and life. Life, though real, is subject to
decay and death; art, though unreal, has permanence of beauty. However,
there is hidden pathos that runs throughout the poem and it remains a sad
poem. The urn is a cold pastoral; it has no warmth of human life. Nor can it
make any progress, because progress implies change. But the urn is beyond
any change. So the urn is deathless, but is also lifeless.
Both poems show that escape from the real world is never possible. In Ode
to the Nightingale it is the word forlorn that puts the clock black. In the
Ode on a Grecian Urn it is the realization of the death like warmthless
and speechless silence of the Urn that brings Keats back into the world of
reality.
The tone of Ode to Nightingale is pathetic and it is more subjective than
Ode on a Grecian Urn. The tone is joyous and objective in Ode on a
Grecian Urn. The overall tone of the poem is melancholic in Ode to
Nightingale. The poem is also very subjective, because it draws reference
from Keats own life. The expressions fever and fret the spectre-thin
etc. clearly refer to the pathetic death of Keats brother. The poem is written
immediately after the death of his brother. On the other hand Keats tone in
Ode to Grecian Urn is very joyful. Here he celebrates the beauty of the Urn,
the joyfulness of the lovers and the excitement of the religious sacrifice. He
uses the word happy several times. More importantly, unlike Nightingale,
it is not based on his personal loss. The poem was written after one of his
visits to the British museum.
Keats is called least romantic of all the romantic poets. He uses all the
elements of romantic poetry like imagination, escape, love of the past,
enjoyment of beauty, love of picturesque, sensuality, spontaneous
expression of feelings, experiment with form and theme, subjectivity,
depiction of nature, love of exotic, death wish, simplicity of language and
expression. Yet we find great care of a great classic poet in Keats poetry. His
balance is outstanding. Both odes carry all the qualities of classic art as well
as romantic art. It is this blend of romanticism and classicism which makes
Keatss poetry of everlasting appeal. And this blend is nowhere so prominent
in Keats poetry as we find them in his great odes. This is the reason that
critics say that Keats odes were enough for his greatness.
ESCAPISM OF KEATS
CONTRAST BETWEEN REALITY AND
IMAGINATION