Odeon a Grecian Urn
BY JOHN KEATS
Thou still unravished 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?
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,
Forever wilt thou love, and she is fair!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
Forever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
Forever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
Forever panting, and forever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Written work:
1-What is the main theme of Ode on a Grecian Urn?
2- What does the Grecian urn symbolize?
3-What poetic techniques are used in Ode on a Grecian Urn?
Answers
1. The poem's central theme is the transient nature of human existence. Thus the poem itself is a kind of urn. ... The poem pulls images, figures, and ideas from the ceaseless flow of life and distills them for study and reflection.
2. "Ode on a Grecian Urn" symbolizes a kind of immortality because of its endurance over time.
3.
Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line of poetry such as the sound of /l/ in “Will silent be; and not a soul to tell” and /n/ sound in “All breathing human passion far above.”
Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings different from literal meanings. Keats has used a lot of symbols in this poem such as, “plants and trees” are the symbols of youth and spring, “urn” itself is the symbol of time and life.
Personification: Personification is to give human attributes to animate or inanimate objects. He has used personifications at several places in the poem. He addresses the urn as “bride of quietness” and “Sylvan historian”; “you soft pipe, play on” as if pipe and urn are humans that can perform certain acts.
Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same lines of poetry such as the sound of /o/ in “More happy love! more happy, happy love!” and /i/ sound in “Attic shape! Fair attitude! With brede.”
Metonymy: It is a figure of speech that replaces the name of things with something it is closely associated. Here, Keats links the man’s heart to his feelings of being “high sorrowful and cloyed.”
Synecdoche: A figure of speech in which a part is meant to represent the whole. He has used this device to express the downside of natural love as he has used the words, “burning love” that is fever and “parching tongues” is thirst.
Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of any word or expression in the initial part of the sentence such as ‘forever’ in the first two lines and ‘happy’ in the last two lines.