When I first read Ode on a Grecian Urn, my mind refused to cooperate. It went numb. It took me a long while to slowly unravel the beauty of the poem.
What is your reaction when you first read Ode on A Grecian Urn?
How long does it take for the numbness to wear off?
Do you manage to discover the beauty of the ode or the mystery of the poem alludes you?
Perhaps by identifying the images in each of the stanza, you will get to form a comprehensible picture of the poem.
You might want to put in your understanding of the last couplet in the final stanza.
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ReplyDeleteHelo Pn.Ju.....
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting poem....Ode on a Grecian Urn….looking at the title didn’t give me any idea on what this poem is all about. As I read through it for the first time, I still fail to understand this poem. Only after reading it again and again with some other references that I came to a clearer picture about this poem and the meaning behind it.
This poem is all about and urn and how it symbolizes everlasting beauty..This is a poem to appreciate beauty and its uniqueness that everyone wants to have it. The urn was used to describe about beauty as it was painted with beautiful pictures on it…It has some similarities to Ode to a Nightingale where Keats compares his own life to aspects on nature but in this poem its between human life and art instead.
Talking about everlasting beauty…who doesn’t want it. In order to allow the readers to understand what is beauty and the concept of everlasting beauty, Keats used 3 images on the urn. The first image is of revelry & sex, the second is of a piper and a lover’s pursuit of a fair main and the 3rd image is of a sacrifial ritual. These images are the best way to show of everlasting beauty because they are frozen in time so therefore no matter how old others get, the images on the urn remains beautiful forever.
In the 1st stanza, he used a lot of imagery from the Greek culture and the places known for its beauty to explain the importance of beauty(line 5-7). Keats used the word “Tempe” and “Arcady”. What I was able to understand form these two words are that the opportunity to experience beauty is not only given to god but even humans get to do it. Enjoying beauty is not god’s privilege. So look around and start noticing beauty but we need to remember that beauty comes in many different forms. Its up to us to decide about that because beauty lies in the eyes of its beholder. Something may be pretty and beautiful to someone but not to others.
The 2nd stanza, relating to “Heard melodies are sweet but those unheard, Are sweeter……”,the poet is trying to express his opinion stating that the unheard melodies are sweeter than the ones already heard because they are unaffected by time. This reminds me to an example discussed claiming that, those single people out there wishes to be married but once we are, not all marriages seem sweet like what has been described before” .What I was able to understand here is that sometimes things which we have not experienced or went through seems sweeter but the truth remain unknown. We have got no choice but to experience it our self in order to get the real picture of it. This is also closely related to beauty.
As in the 3rd stanza, John Keats explains how we as human being want all the beauty in live to last forever..”All breathing human passion far above” relates to human wishing for all the happy stuffs found in this stanza which is direct or indirectly related to beauty and the passion of having it forever. “Ah happy happy boughs! That cannot shed”, “For ever piping songs, forever new” .
But the question is, can someone experience what Keats name as ‘everlasting beauty”??? This still remains a question to me…Sometimes everything in life seems very beautiful but how long will it be there with us? If only beauty can last…Beauty here does not only reflect to having pretty face but also being happy inside that will surely make us strong and beautiful on the outside. Success can also be defined as one type of beauty someone can experience in life.
SUBASHINI A/P SHANMUGAM PJJ BPTESL4 J40730
Hi, Pn. Juridah and my dearest friends. This poem really bring me headache, in Chinese culture we seldom use the things that is related to death to perform our work.It is believe that it will bring us bad luck. However, this poem had open my mind and expose me with the different presentation of literature work.
ReplyDeleteThe urn in this poem is regard as an art which potrayed immortal and permanent images.Keats used the paradox to compare life and art,he suggested that the beauty can only be exist in an artificial state, such as on the frozen, immutable, lifeless form of the Grecian urn.The urn reflects the ideals which can never be achieve in real life. Human imperfection can be compensated through an art object.
Assalamualaikum.
ReplyDeleteHi, Puan Ju and friends. For this poem, I have to read it, many times, again and again. It Is really a tough poem to me...but, one thing for sure, it is about love, beauty and truth.
In the first stanza, the speaker is wondering about the hidden legend as he is standing before an ancient Grecian urn.
The second stanza, the speaker says that the piper's unheard melodies are sweeter than mortal melodies because they are affected by time...To me, this is referring to our own experience...We have to go through something new to gain the experience and it is up to the person to believe it or not.
The third stanza, for the speaker, piper song will be forever and their love (the boy and the girl) will last forever. But I believe only the lucky one's can have the forever love from a lover. There is only one forever love, God's love....
The fourth stanza, the speaker thinks although the generations is long gone, the urn is still there. "Beauty is truth, truth beauty'. The urn knows only beauty and that is the only thing the urn knows.
To me in reality, we need to believe that beauty and truth come as one. But, it is up to the individual to accept the fact or not.
Hi Pn. Ju and fellow bloggers,
ReplyDeleteFrankly speaking, the first impression I had when I had a glimpsed at this poem was that it had too many imageries that were somewhat confusing and perplexing. The length was tolerable compared to others like ‘Ode to a nightingale’ and the language was still manageable unlike the older versions of Sir Patrick Spens. As I began reading, I discovered that this poem is actually a mind provoking story which leaves us with countless possible explanations for the last couplet in the final stanza.
Keats himself is the persona for this ode and in the first stanza he used the imagery of a bride that is still a virgin and others like the image of a lady being persuaded by someone. These are visual imageries and they connote the idea of the state of youth and innocence. He wrote this famous ode of his during his final years before he died of tuberculosis. This stanza carries a connotation that he wishes that he can jump into the pictures in the urn so that he can live an immortal life.
The second stanza contains auditory and tactile imagery. The first four lines contain auditory imagery where Keats feels that unheard melodies are sweeter. The following lines contain tactile imagery where there is a picture of lovers nearly kissing. These are all connotations of how Keats feels that the ‘world’ in the picture is better than his real world and how he wishes to be there.
The third stanza contains imagery of a tree that is happy because it will never shed its leaves and this imagery leads to Keats longing to be in the urn to live an immortal life. This longing of his can be explained because he was facing horrible pain due to his illness and had to rely on drugs and sometimes he would consume alcohol to numb the pain. Therefore, he longs to be in a place where he is forever young and where he can escape the pain he’s facing.
The fourth stanza shows various imageries during a festival, where a ritual is going to take place. It is a lively and joyful environment unlike Keats real life environment; where he had to witness the deaths of his loved ones and at that current moment battling his own life. He also imagined that those who are left in the urn will never be able to return.
This leads to the final stanza where I believe that perhaps the discovery of those who are left in the urn will never be able to return made Keats realize that there is more to life than being stuck in a doomed cold pastoral. He also pictured that generations will pass but the urn will remain to teach the future generation its lesson. The last couplet in this stanza is a conclusion where according to my opinion is a discovery in which Keats have learnt that life may be imperfect and full of obstacles but there is more to life and underneath that, one should be grateful with what they have in life. However this last couplet could also carry various interpretations. Beauty can be pictured as a reflection of life and the lessons we learn from life.
LEVINIA ANAK TONG KENG (BPTESL PJJ-J40722)
Hi Pn. Ju and my dear friends,
ReplyDeleteOde on Grecian Urn…….When I first took a look and read this poem, Pn. Ju , frankly speaking I read it again and again and again but they were all just mere words that did not make any meaning nor was I able to connect to the poem. Sorry Pn. Ju , but this is the truth. It was a challenging task to come to an understanding of the poem and when I finally did with the help of Miss Yap, our tutor I realized how well said the poem was by Keats about life. Beautiful, fabulous and words can go on beyond description on how meaningful this poem is just as all the rest of the poems when we get the underlying meaning of these poems.
Keats talks about the urn and the paintings on the urn. He looks at how life’s of those people carved on the urn is unchangeable. Existing in a frozen time or suspended time, neither the feelings of the people on the urn nor the moment pictured on the urn can change. This poem by Keats shows a comparison of the real world and the world of fantasy. The pain, sorrow and turbulence in the real world which Keats is a part of and the fantasy world of joy that is full of everlasting love and happy moments as carved on the urn.
It focuses on two scenes that is one on a lover eternally pursues a beloved without fulfillment, and another of villagers about to perform a sacrifice. The urn is a "foster-child of silence and slow time" because it is created from stone and made by the hand of an artist who does not communicate through words but the carved pictures on the urn. As stone, time has little effect on it and ageing is such a slow process that it can be seen as an eternal piece of artwork. The urn is an external object capable of producing a story outside the time of its creation, and because of this ability the poet labels it a "sylvan historian" that tells its story through its beauty.
The first stanza talks about the urn that has been adopted by silence and time. The persona wonders if the image he is seeing on the urn represents human or god. “Wild ecstasy” refers to the world of the people in the urn where life is so simple.
In the second stanza Keats shares about how everything is better than real life. This can be seen through the auditory imagery in the four lines of the second stanza. He also talks about how the youth in urn remain unchanging as they are frozen in time. Keats also talks about a picture of a lover about to kiss his lover. It is a kiss that will never be felt by his lover but Keats tells the lover do not be shattered by it as the love she feels will never fade and she would never leave him for another. This is sensual imagery.
In the third stanza he reflects the idea that he wants to be part of the life in the urn as life pictured on the urn is perfect without sorrow, pain and love that last for eternity. The moments of happiness, people remain young forever and the melodious song always heard. This is seen through the visual imagery and feelings imagery of happiness and warmth as the song of the pipes are heard.
In the fourth stanza Keats uses visual imagery to talk about how the carvings on the urn show the people running to get a cow to sacrifice. Everyone is there at the river, sea shore and mountain side to sacrifice a cow. He imagines that the little town, empty citizen and the streets will forever be silent. Those who leave or frozen in time will never return. He questions himself if he really wants to be forever stuck in a urn. The last stanza talks about how the urn will remain telling the future generation its lesson. The last couplet in this stanza is the conclusion to the ode. This line has many such interpretations. In my opinion, it talks about how one looks at life. If you see life as meaningful than you need to live life meaningfully. Beauty lies on what you learn about life and living it correctly……..
NACHAMMAI SINGARAVADIVELU( BPTESL SEM 4) J 40803
Puan Jue and my dearest course mates,
ReplyDeleteI thought I was the only one having problem in understanding this poem. Thanks to my digital dictionary for being my companion and my teacher in giving me the meanings. But I have to admit there are words which are used connotatively and again I was lost … Eventually I managed to understand and guess what, this poem of Keats has become one of my favorite poem besides the SONNETS by Shakespeare.
Keats starts his poem by describing the urn as a “historian” that can tell a story. He wonders about the figures on the side of the urn and asks what legend they depict and from where they come and looks at a picture that seems to depict a group of men pursuing a group of women and wonders what their story could be?
Then in the second stanza, the poet looks at another picture on the urn, this time of a young man playing a pipe, lying with his lover beneath a glade of trees and says that the piper’s “unheard” melodies are sweeter than mortal melodies because they are unaffected by time. He tells the youth that, though he can never kiss his lover because he is frozen in time, he should not grieve, because her beauty will never fade.
From there the poet moves to the third stanza and here, he looks at the trees surrounding the lovers and feels happy that they will never shed their leaves and he is happy that the love of the boy and the girl will last forever, unlike mortal love…
He does not stop there and in the fourth stanza, the poet examines another picture on the urn, this one of a group of villagers leading a heifer to be sacrificed. He wonders where they are going and from where they have come. He imagines their little town, empty of all its citizens, and tells it that its streets will “for evermore” be silent, for those who have left it, frozen on the urn, will never return…….
Lastly, in the final stanza, the poet again addresses the urn itself, saying that it, like Eternity, ” The poet thinks that when his generation is long dead, the urn will remain, telling future generations its enigmatic lesson. And the lesson is “Beauty is truth, truth beauty…
Of course the urn may not need to know anything beyond the equation of beauty and truth, but the complications of human life make it impossible.
As for me I feel that beyond all the complications of human life, all human beings need to know that beauty and truth are one and the same. Beauty and truth are when you are certain that you love someone, and believe that the love will last forever. Hopefully I do not go beyond the boundary when I say that beauty and truth only exist in those who never ask for more than what is given. And to those who is always thankful to what they already have. Trust me my dearest friends, beauty and truth lay on faith, belief and firmness of a person …
That’s all from me, for now … (hehe) finally, my beloved course mates, remember to be grateful with what you have and never regret upon it… Then our life will be more meaningful.
NORIAH BT MOHAMED J40724 - BPTESL SEM 4
Good evening madam..
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late comment...i met with an accident 2 weeks back..a very bad one..anyway about this poem...I was feeling quite 'dizzy' after reading it.I took some time to understand the content of the poem with some references...
The first thing that popped into my mind is about the poet..John Keats...he is absolutely romantic..its also amazing on how he emphasis the urn, as a human artistic construct which is capable of relating to the idea of "Truth" :)..
I have written down my understanding according to the stanzas..
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" is a lyric ode with five stanzas containing 10 lines each.
The first stanza begins with the narrator addressing an ancient urn as "Thou still unravished bride of quietness!", initiating a conversation between the poet and the object, which the reader is allowed to observe from a third-person point of view.By describing the object as a "foster-child of silence and slow time", the poet describes the urn as both a silent object, a theme which reoccurs throughout the poem, and a stone object that resists change.
Throughout the first two stanzas, the speaker addresses the urn as a single object, taking note of its silence at several points as he discusses unheard melodies and tunes heard not by the sensual ear (line 13). In Keats, the discussion between the poet and the urn at the beginning of the poem leaves the reader to examine more than just the relationship between the two but also his place as a third-party observer.
With line 17, the second stanza begins to change tone as the poet shifts his focus from the urn as a whole to the individuals represented in the artwork. The two lovers, whose image the unknown artist has created through his craftsmanship, appear to the poet as a couple who cannot kiss yet do not grow old..Again the narrator discusses the urn in terms of its unaging qualities by saying, "She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss" (line 19), but he also focuses on the inability of the lovers to ever obtain sensual pleasure due to their static nature.
As the poem comes to a close, the narrator once again addresses the urn as a single object. However, his tone becomes sharper as he seeks answers from the work of art that it appears unable to answer.
In the final couplet, the poet provides a line for the urn, which complicates the narrative and has generated a multitude of critical responses as to the author's intent: "Beauty is truth—truth beauty / that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know" (lines 49-50).
But...the lack of a definite voice of the urn in final couplet cause me or maybe the other readers to go a little puzzled to questions such as : who is really speaking these words, to whom they are speaking, and what is meant by the words....( Thanks to Sis Noory for the information if that's what the poet meant in the last stanza about the “Beauty is truth, truth is beauty… ...) I'm definitely grateful to the Almighty as I'm still alive after the accident... will sure lead a more meaningful life after this... :)
Anyhow...the poem surely encourages the reader to interact with the poem in an interrogative manner like the narrator.. Thanks...
SIVASANGHARI A/P NADARAJAN (J36340)
BP TESL SEM 8 ( UPM PJJ)
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