Analysis of Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats
Ode on a Grecian Urn – Keats
Voice
The third stanza is in second voice, because the poet talks to somebody: the trees, the melodist/musician, and the lover (“Ah, happy, happy boughs!”, “Ah, happy, happy melodist”, “More, happy love!”). He is addressing the various elements on the urn and praising them and its beauty. The fourth stanza is also in second voice, as he refers to the priest (“O, mysterious priest”) and the town (“And, little town, thy streets for evermore…”).
Mood
The mood is one of admiration and praise for the figures on the urn. It is an enthusiasm confronted by its beauty that will not fade.
Summary of Each Stanza
Stanza 1
The urn is like a Sylvan historian and has the power to recall history. The poet compares the urn, as a historian, to poetry.
Stanza 2
The main focus is music, which is related to love. Unheard melodies of the pipes on the urn are sweeter than real ones. Youth is permanent, and so is the song played. The lover on the urn tries to kiss the girl, but he cannot because they’re frozen. However, their beauty will not disappear.
Stanza 3
The trees will always be in the spring season, the happy melodist will never stop playing music, and the love between the boy and the girl on the urn will last forever. This love is different from satisfied, mortal love that leaves us exhausted and sad.
Stanza 4
The poet wonders who the people are that are coming to the green altar, leading a heifer. He also wonders about the little town they live in, which will be emptied forever.
Stanza 5
As in the first stanza, the poet addresses the urn as a general thing. It is an attic creation, representing maidens and men in marble. It also affirms that when all mortals die, the urn will remain, saying forever, “Beauty is truth, truth is beauty.”
General Summary
The poet addresses a Grecian urn as an animated being and praises its perfections and graces, considering that it represents eternity—the eternity of beauty as a Platonic ideal.
Topic
Beauty is immortal; there is an opposition between eternity (art) and time (human life) – “ars longa, vita brevis”. The topic is represented in all five stanzas but is most intense in the final stanza.
Parts of the Poem
- Introduction (Stanza 1): Introduces the elements of immortality and beauty.
- Development (Stanzas 2-4): The poet selects scenes on the urn and explains what he sees.
- Conclusion (Stanza 5): The poet states that the urn will remain forever and explain its content to future generations, while people live and die within time.
Metric
It is an Ode. Each stanza has ten lines written in iambic pentameter (a pattern of rhythm that assigns ten syllables to each line: The first syllable is unaccented, the second accented, the third unaccented, and so on).
Rhyme
- Stanza 1: ABAB CDEDCE
- Stanza 2: ABAB CDECED
- Stanza 3: ABABCDECDE
- Stanza 4: ABAB CDECDE
- Stanza 5: ABAB CDECDE
The first seven verses are the same in all stanzas: ABABCDE, but the rest are variable.
Figures in the third and fourth stanza:
Third stanza: Personification in line 21-22, related to the boughs that will never say goodbye to the spring, the perennial spring. There is also a repetition of “happy”, and run-on line from the final of the line 21 and the start of the 22. In line 22 there is an alliteration of “r” and also apostrophe because he is addressing to the tree.Line 23: Alliteration of “d”.Line 24: Repetition of “for ever” which emphasizes the eternity of the representation and the happiness it has.Line 25: Personification of “happy love”. The three following lines have also personification because it is addressing too to the love. Furthermore, it is an apostrophe, because the poet talks to something, in this case, love.Lines 29-30: Metonymy, it links his “heart” to his feelings of being “high-sorrowful and cloy’d, a burning forehead and a parching tone”.
Fourth stanzaLine 31: Rhetorical question of “Who are these coming to the sacrifice?” the speaker continues to ask about the events depicted on the urn until the line 37.Line 32: Alliteration of “T”, which means static. Epithet in “green altar”. Apostrophe in “O mysterious priest”Line 33: Pastoral imagery.Line 34: Epithet in “silken flanks”. Alliteration of liquids and the same pastoral imagery.Line 35 to 37: Rhetorical question about the little town. In line 36 there is alliteration of liquids and in line 37 of the sound “d”. From line 38 to 40: Apostrophe in “little town”. Run-on line from the line 38 to the line 39 and from the line 39 to the 40. In line 39 there is a hyperbaton “will silent be” (It should be “will be silent”).