Ode on a Grecian Urn

ODE ON A GRECIAN URN
by John
Keats
DR. M. MARY VELANGANNI
SRI RAMAKRISHNA COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCE
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Key Poem
Information
Central Message: People live, die, and fade from memory; but art preserves for all
time vibrant visions of life.
Speaker: An individual with deep reverence for art and the imagination.
Poetic Form: Ode
Themes: Beauty, Immortality, Nature
Emotions Evoked: Contentment, Gratitude, Passion
Time Period: 19th Century
 Structure
Like other entries in Keats’s series of “Great Odes of 1819,” ‘Ode on

a Grecian Urn’ builds on a specific structure.
Its closest formal cousin is probably ‘Ode on Indolence,’ though it

contains a slightly different rhyme scheme.
Split into five verses (stanzas) of ten lines each, and making use of
fairly rigid iambic pentameter,
‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ is very carefully put together.

 The rhyme scheme is split into two parts, with the final
three lines of each stanza varying slightly.
The first seven lines, a rhyme scheme of ABABCDE is

used, though the instance of the CDE part is not always
as strict.
In verse one, the final three lines are DCE;
The second verse, they’re CED;
Stanzas three and four both use CDE,
The fifth and final stanza uses DCE.

Literary Devices
The major literary devices that are used in Keats’ ode are mentioned below:
Apostrophe: This ode begins with an apostrophe. Keats directly invokes the urn at the
beginning. It also occurs in the following examples: “O mysterious priest” and “O Attic
shape!”
Metaphor: Keats uses metaphors in “unravish’d bride of quietness,” “foster-child of

silence and slow time,” “ditties of no tone,” etc.
Paradox: The first three lines are paradoxical. In these lines, the poet refers to the
Grecian urn from three perspectives. Each reference is contradictory to the other. It
also occurs in the following lines: “Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; /
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss”
Alliteration: “leaf-fring’d legend,” ye soft pipes, play on,” “heart high-sorrowful,” etc.
Rhetorical Question: The last three lines of the first stanza contain this device. For
example: “What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?”
Stanza One
Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring’d legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
The first verse, the narrator announces that he is standing
before a very old urn from Greece. The urn becomes the
subject of ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn,’ so all of the ideas and
thoughts are addressed towards it. On the urn, we are told
there are images of people who have been frozen in place for
all of the time, as the “foster-child of silence and slow time.”
The narrator also explains to us that he is discussing the

matter in his role as a “historian” and that he’s wondering
just what legend or story the figures stuck on the side of the
pottery are trying to convey. One such picture, seemingly
showing a gang of men as they chase some women, is
described as a “mad pursuit” but the narrator wants to know
more about the “struggle to escape” or the “wild ecstasy.”
The juxtaposition between these two ideas gives an insight
Stanza Two
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
The second verse, the reader is introduced to another image on
the Grecian urn. In this scene, a young man is sitting with a
lover, seemingly playing a song on a pipe as they are
surrounded by trees. Again, the narrator’s interest is piqued,
but he decides that the “melodies are sweet, but those unheard
/ Are sweeter.”
Unaffected by growing old or changing fashions, the notes the

narrator imagines the man playing offer unlimited potential for
beauty. While the figures will never grow old, the music also
contains an immortal quality, one much “sweeter” than regular
music. The narrator comforts the man, who he acknowledges
will never be able to kiss his companion, with the fact that she
will never lose her beauty as she is frozen in time.
Stanza Three
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
The third stanza again focuses on the same two lovers but turns its
attention to the rest of the scene. The trees behind the pipe player will
never grow old and their leaves will never fall, an idea which pleases the
narrator. Just like the leaves, the love shared between the two is equally
immortal and won’t have the chance to grow old and stale. Normal love
between humans can languish into a “breathing human passion” and
become a “burning forehead and a parching tongue,” a problem that
young lovers will not face.
In attempting to identify with the couple and their scene, the narrator
reveals that he covets their ability to escape from the temporary nature of
life. The piper’s song remains new forever while his lover remains young
and beautiful. This love, he believes, is “far above” the standard human
bond which can grow tired and weary.
The parched tongue he references seems to indicate that he’s worried

about the flame of passion diminishing as time passes, something that
won’t worry the young couple. On viewing the figures, the narrator is
reminded of the inevitability of his own diminishing passions and regrets
Stanza Four
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.
The fourth stanza of ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ really begins to develop the ideas. Turning
to another image on the urn, this time a group of people bringing a cow to be
sacrificed, the narrator begins to wonder about the individuals’ lives. We also see the
speaker in ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ attempt to think about the people on the urn as
though they were functioning in regular time. This means that he imagines them to
have had a starting point – the “little town” – and an endpoint – the “green altar.”
In turn, he imagines the “little town” they come from, now deserted because its
inhabitants are frozen in the image on the side of the urn “for evermore.” This hints at
what he sees as the limitations of the static piece of art, in that the viewer can never
discern the human motivations of the people, the “real story” that makes them
interesting as people.
The narrator’s attempts to engage with the figures on the urn do change. Here, his
curiosity from the first stanza evolves into a deeper kind of identification with the
young lovers, before thinking of the town and community as a whole in the fourth.
Each time, the reach of his empathy expands from one figure to two, and then to a
whole town. But once he encounters the idea of an empty town, there’s little else to
say. This is the limit of the urn as a piece of art, as it’s not able to provide him with
any more information.
Stanza Five
O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
The final stanza is perhaps the most
famous piece of poetry Keats ever wrote.
This time, he is talking directly to the urn
itself, which he believes “doth tease us
out of thought.” Even after everyone has
died, the urn will remain, still providing
hints at humanity but no real answers.

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ODE ON A GRECIAN URN

Like other entries in Keats’s series of “Great Odes of 1819,” ‘Ode on

Its closest formal cousin is probably ‘Ode on Indolence,’ though it

‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ is very carefully put together.

The first seven lines, a rhyme scheme of ABABCDE is

The second verse, they’re CED;

Stanzas three and four both use CDE,

The fifth and final stanza uses DCE.

Metaphor: Keats uses metaphors in “unravish’d bride of quietness,” “foster-child of

The narrator also explains to us that he is discussing the

Unaffected by growing old or changing fashions, the notes the

The parched tongue he references seems to indicate that he’s worried

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