September 20, 2021: Difference between revisions
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{{Center|{{Large|Ode on a Grecian Urn}}{{refn|For the Romantics, the ode became a poetic vehicle for exploring the imagination and expressing sublime and expansive thoughts; it also attempted to reassert the power and voice of the poet ({{harvnb|Bloom|2001|p=18}}). Like a hymn, it is the expression of a private voice reaching for and yearning to “participate in the divine” (quoted in {{harvnb|Bloom|2001|p=18}}). Keats used the ode in an attempt to transcend time and establish the permanence of poetic expression. Keats’ “Urn” uses a rhetorical technique called ''[[w:Ekphrasis|ekphrasis]]'', a poetic description of a work of art, and Keats’ poem is the exemplar of this device ({{harvnb|Bloom|2001|p=19}}). It borrows from the classical [[w:Pastoral|pastoral]], a poetic form that celebrates an idealized life of shepherds.}}<br /> | {{Center|{{Large|Ode on a Grecian Urn}}{{refn|For the Romantics, the ode became a poetic vehicle for exploring the imagination and expressing sublime and expansive thoughts; it also attempted to reassert the power and voice of the poet ({{harvnb|Bloom|2001|p=18}}). Like a hymn, it is the expression of a private voice reaching for and yearning to “participate in the divine” (quoted in {{harvnb|Bloom|2001|p=18}}). Keats used the ode in an attempt to transcend time and establish the permanence of poetic expression. Keats’ “Urn” uses a rhetorical technique called ''[[w:Ekphrasis|ekphrasis]]'', a poetic description of a work of art, and Keats’ poem is the exemplar of this device ({{harvnb|Bloom|2001|p=19}}). It borrows from the classical [[w:Pastoral|pastoral]], a poetic form that celebrates an idealized life of shepherds.<br />{{Sp}}Keats’ ode contemplates the ironies of human life while the poet looks at the carvings on a funeral urn, either real or imagined. The urn depicts a celebratory scene of perfection that the ravishes of time cannot touch, unlike the real world of humanity. Even though these figures are immobile, they have achieved a perfection that we cannot living in time. Yet, a sacrifice is implied by the images: that while time has stopped, they live in a “state of candid hope and expectation that time and experience will never disappoint” ({{harvnb|Garrett|1987|p=47}}). Ultimately this is a cold, deceptive vision wrought by the poet’s imagination and our own willingness to be deceived by an idyllic dream.}}<br /> | ||
By: [[w:John Keats|John Keats]] ([[w:Ode on a Grecian Urn|1819]]) }} | By: [[w:John Keats|John Keats]] ([[w:Ode on a Grecian Urn|1819]]) }} | ||
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<poem> | <poem> | ||
Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness, | Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,{{refn|The ''unravish’d bride'' is not subject to the passing of time, but lives forever in an ideal marble domain. There is a sexual connotation here as well, as she will never be subject to sexual love.}} | ||
:Thou foster-child of silence and slow time, | :Thou foster-child{{refn|Not a real human, as the ''bride'' is a carving on the urn in the narrative, and a product of Keats’ imagination.}} of silence and slow time, | ||
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express | Sylvan historian, who canst thus express | ||
:A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: | :A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: | ||
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:What men or gods are these? What maidens {{H:title|Reluctant.|loth}}? | :What men or gods are these? What maidens {{H:title|Reluctant.|loth}}? | ||
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? | What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? | ||
{{Sp}}{{Sp}}What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? {{ln|10}} | {{Sp}}{{Sp}}What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?{{refn|Along with the ''unravish’d bride'', these figures exist in a state of “frozen animation” that emphasize Keats’ longing for “permanence in a world of change” ({{harvnb|Bloom|2002|p=20}}).}} {{ln|10}} | ||
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard | Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard | ||
:Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; | :Are sweeter;{{refn|Imagined music may be more sweet than that the ''sensual ear'' can hear.}} therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; | ||
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d, | Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d, | ||
:Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: | :Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: | ||
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave {{ln|15}} | Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave {{ln|15}} | ||
:Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; | :Thy song,{{refn|These melodies of the imagination are more valuable because they are more appropriate to this tableau of frozen time ({{harvnb|Bloom|2002|p=20}}).}} nor ever can those trees be bare; | ||
::Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, | ::Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, | ||
Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; | Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; | ||
:She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, | :She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, | ||
{{Sp}}{{Sp}}For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair! {{ln|20}} | {{Sp}}{{Sp}}For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!{{refn|Even though sexual love is always deferred, so is aging and death. These figures transcend the scope of time and human desire, keeping their hope for consummation perpetual at the same time as keeping actual touch impossible. }} {{ln|20}} | ||
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed | Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed | ||
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And, happy melodist, unwearied, | And, happy melodist, unwearied, | ||
:For ever piping songs for ever new; | :For ever piping songs for ever new; | ||
More happy love! more happy, happy love! {{ln|25}} | More happy love! more happy, happy love!{{refn|Keats’ lovers are happy in a world where the pain of aging and grief that comes from ''human passion'' cannot touch them.}} {{ln|25}} | ||
:For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d, | :For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d, | ||
::For ever panting, and for ever young; | ::For ever panting, and for ever young; | ||
All breathing human passion far above, | All breathing human passion far above, | ||
:That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d, | :That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and {{H:title|Disgust or sicken (someone) with an excess of sweetness, richness, or sentiment.|cloy’d}}, | ||
{{Sp}}{{Sp}}A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. {{ln|30}} | {{Sp}}{{Sp}}A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.{{refn|The poem seems to turn here, from paean to something darker: there's something ''too much'' about this world.}} {{ln|30}} | ||
Who are these coming to the sacrifice? | Who are these coming to the sacrifice?{{refn|The darkness is carried over into an image of religious sacrifice to be paid for the happiness and permanence.}} | ||
:To what green altar, O mysterious priest, | :To what green altar, O mysterious priest, | ||
Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, | Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, | ||
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And, little town, thy streets for evermore | And, little town, thy streets for evermore | ||
:Will silent be; and not a soul to tell | :Will silent be; and not a soul to tell | ||
{{Sp}}{{Sp}}Why thou art desolate, can e’er return. {{ln|40}} | {{Sp}}{{Sp}}Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.{{refn|The animated world of the first three stanzas has turned into an eerie landscape of quiet and desolation ''for evermore'' ({{harvnb|Bloom|2002|p=21}}).}} {{ln|40}} | ||
O {{H:title|Attica is the region in Greece where Athens is located.|Attic}} shape! Fair attitude! with brede | O {{H:title|Attica is the region in Greece where Athens is located.|Attic}} shape! Fair attitude! with {{H:title|Anything interwoven and intricately wrought, common in the 17th and 18th centuries.|brede}} | ||
:Of marble men and maidens overwrought, | :Of marble men and maidens overwrought, | ||
With forest branches and the trodden weed; | With forest branches and the trodden weed; | ||
:Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought | :Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought{{refn|Keats addresses the urn of his imagination admitting that what came before as fiction. Indeed, his descriptions have been so convincing, he is like the wizard behind the curtain who exposes himself as the illusionist who has led us all astray with our own desires for an idyllic world.}} | ||
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! {{ln|45}} | As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!{{refn|A reference to the only reality of the urn: its marble.}} {{ln|45}} | ||
:When old age shall this generation waste, | :When old age shall this generation waste, | ||
::Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe | ::Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe | ||
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st, | Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st, | ||
:“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,”—that is all | :“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,”—that is all | ||
{{Sp}}{{Sp}}Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. {{ln|50}} | {{Sp}}{{Sp}}Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.{{refn|These last lines have been the subject of much debate, but they seem to be a playful, though melancholy admission of the power of art to deceive as we willingly participate in the seduction ({{harvnb|Bloom|2002|p=21}}). Yet, as part of the irony of the poem, art may also help us see and contemplate the reality of the world at the same time. Like Keats’ urn, art is both a dead and cold artifact, but it can be animated by the power of the poet’s imagination. }} {{ln|50}} | ||
</poem> | </poem> | ||
|}</div> | |}</div> | ||
Revision as of 08:31, 1 October 2021
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Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,[2] |
Notes & Commentary
- ↑ For the Romantics, the ode became a poetic vehicle for exploring the imagination and expressing sublime and expansive thoughts; it also attempted to reassert the power and voice of the poet (Bloom 2001, p. 18). Like a hymn, it is the expression of a private voice reaching for and yearning to “participate in the divine” (quoted in Bloom 2001, p. 18). Keats used the ode in an attempt to transcend time and establish the permanence of poetic expression. Keats’ “Urn” uses a rhetorical technique called ekphrasis, a poetic description of a work of art, and Keats’ poem is the exemplar of this device (Bloom 2001, p. 19). It borrows from the classical pastoral, a poetic form that celebrates an idealized life of shepherds.
Keats’ ode contemplates the ironies of human life while the poet looks at the carvings on a funeral urn, either real or imagined. The urn depicts a celebratory scene of perfection that the ravishes of time cannot touch, unlike the real world of humanity. Even though these figures are immobile, they have achieved a perfection that we cannot living in time. Yet, a sacrifice is implied by the images: that while time has stopped, they live in a “state of candid hope and expectation that time and experience will never disappoint” (Garrett 1987, p. 47). Ultimately this is a cold, deceptive vision wrought by the poet’s imagination and our own willingness to be deceived by an idyllic dream. - ↑ The unravish’d bride is not subject to the passing of time, but lives forever in an ideal marble domain. There is a sexual connotation here as well, as she will never be subject to sexual love.
- ↑ Not a real human, as the bride is a carving on the urn in the narrative, and a product of Keats’ imagination.
- ↑ Along with the unravish’d bride, these figures exist in a state of “frozen animation” that emphasize Keats’ longing for “permanence in a world of change” (Bloom 2002, p. 20).
- ↑ Imagined music may be more sweet than that the sensual ear can hear.
- ↑ These melodies of the imagination are more valuable because they are more appropriate to this tableau of frozen time (Bloom 2002, p. 20).
- ↑ Even though sexual love is always deferred, so is aging and death. These figures transcend the scope of time and human desire, keeping their hope for consummation perpetual at the same time as keeping actual touch impossible.
- ↑ Keats’ lovers are happy in a world where the pain of aging and grief that comes from human passion cannot touch them.
- ↑ The poem seems to turn here, from paean to something darker: there's something too much about this world.
- ↑ The darkness is carried over into an image of religious sacrifice to be paid for the happiness and permanence.
- ↑ The animated world of the first three stanzas has turned into an eerie landscape of quiet and desolation for evermore (Bloom 2002, p. 21).
- ↑ Keats addresses the urn of his imagination admitting that what came before as fiction. Indeed, his descriptions have been so convincing, he is like the wizard behind the curtain who exposes himself as the illusionist who has led us all astray with our own desires for an idyllic world.
- ↑ A reference to the only reality of the urn: its marble.
- ↑ These last lines have been the subject of much debate, but they seem to be a playful, though melancholy admission of the power of art to deceive as we willingly participate in the seduction (Bloom 2002, p. 21). Yet, as part of the irony of the poem, art may also help us see and contemplate the reality of the world at the same time. Like Keats’ urn, art is both a dead and cold artifact, but it can be animated by the power of the poet’s imagination.
Bibliography
- Battenhouse, Henry M. (1958). English Romantic Writers. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.
- Bloom, Harold (2001). John Keats. Bloom’s Major Poets. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House.
- Frye, Paul H. (1987). "Voices in the Leaves: the 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'". In Bloom, Harold. The Odes of Keats. New York: Chelsea House. pp. 83–92.
- Garrett, John (1987). Selected Poems of John Keats. MacMillan Master Guides. London: MacMillan.
- Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. (2018). The Norton Anthology of English Literature. The Major Authors. 2 (Tenth ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.
- Inglis, Fred (1969). Keats. Arco Literary Critiques. New York: Arco.
- Nersessian, Anahid (2021). Keats’s Odes: A Lover’s Discourse. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
- Vendler, Helen (1983). The Odes of John Keats. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press.
- Wasserman, Earl (1964). "The Ode on a Grecian Urn". In Bate, Walter Jackson. Keats: A Collection of Critical Essays. Twentieth Century Views. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. pp. 113–141.
