Ode on a Grecian Urn

1. Ode on a Grecian Urn Exercises 1 – 6 page 292

2. Consider stanza 1 • Point out the three different ways in which the poet addresses the urn. • The poet uses three different metaphors (personifications) to address the urn. He presents it as an ‘unravished bride of quietness”, a “foster-child of silence and slow time” and a “Sylvan historian”. The three definitions are all connected in some way with the passing of time. • The scene is described through ________questions. Present it in your own words. • The scene is described through rhetorical questions, which present the scene indirectly. The scene is set in the mythological region of Arcadia; there is a feast with men and gods, a group of girls who are trying to escape with great effort (probably from men’s embraces); some men are playing musical instruments. • Point out the contrast between the quietness of the urn and the excitement of the scene depicted on it. • The urn is defined as ‘bride of quietness’ and ‘child of silence and slow time’, but the scene is characterised by a ‘mad pursuit’ and a ‘struggle’ (l. 9) and by the sound of instruments (l.10). The entire scene is set in an atmosphere of ‘wild ecstasy’.

3. Consider stanza 2 • The first four lines are divided into a statement and an imperative. What does the poet say? Whom does he address? • The poet says that heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter; the poet addresses the pipers depicted on the urn, asking them to play not for the sensual ear but to the spirit. • In the second part of the stanza there is the description of another scene. Whom does the poet address now and what happens in the scene? • The poet now addresses a young lover who is trying to catch a young girl in order to kiss her. • The youth and the girl are captured in an attitude that they will have for ever. Describe it. • The lover will love the girl for ever (even if he will never be able to kiss her) and she will always be beautiful. The urn preserves them from the decaying process of ageing and time. (“She cannot fade” ll. 19-20). Focus on stanza 3 • This stanza is full of exclamations. Underline them in the text and say why each of the elements mentioned is considered happy. • “Ah, happy, happy boughs” (l.21) – the boughs are happy because they will never lose their leaves or say goodbye to the spring. • “And, happy melodist” (l.23) – the musician is happy because his songs will be forever new. • “More happy love” (l25) – love is happy because it will always be warm and always young, but without the suffering that accompanies human love.

4. Focus on stanza 3 • What characteristics are attributed to the heart that experiences human passions? Are they positive or negative? • The heart is “high-sorrowful and cloy’d” (l.29) and causes a burning forehead and a thirsty tongue. Human passions are negative, while love experienced through art (i.e. the love depicted on the urn) gives only pleasure. • What contrast is expressed in the stanza? • The contrast expressed here is between sensual love and human passions on the one side, which are imperfect and a source of suffering, and the world of art, in which all passions are sublimated and brought to their perfection. Consider stanza 4 • Describe the scene shown in the first four lines. • A priest is taking a heifer lowing at the skies in order to sacrifice her. It is a religious scene. • What feelings does the poet communicate when he says that “thy streets forevermore / Will silent be; and not a soul to tell / Why thou art desolate, can e’er return? • a happiness b desolation c sadness d despair e fear • f boredom • The poet communicates feelings of sadness and desolation: the streets of the little town are deserted and will be so for ever and nobody will ever be able to tell what happened to it. There is also the impression of an eternal silence.

5. Analyse stanza 5 • Underline the adjectives used to describe the urn, the people depicted on it and on its form. • “Attic”, “fair”, “marble”, “silent”, “cold”. All the adjectives denote stillness and quietness. • What is the effect the urn has on the viewer compared to? • The effect the urn has on the viewer is compared to that of eternity (ll. 44-45): it makes us feel lost and incapable of thinking (“tease us out of thought” l.44). • Focus on the expression “Cold Pastoral”, It tells us that the urn is _________ because it has no life in it, and it is a _________ because its scenes come from the mythological world of Arcadia. • Focus on the expression “Cold Pastoral”, It tells us that the urn is Coldbecause it has no life in it, and it is a Pastoralbecause its scenes come from the mythological world of Arcadia. • In the second half of the stanza the poet introduces the idea of death and grief. How can the urn defend man against them? • It helps men with its beauty and perfection, which are the only forces on earth that can overcome death and grief on earth.

6. Personal response • The meaning of the last two lines has been much discussed by readers and critics. What • do you think the message of the urn is ? • Beauty and truth are the same thing. • Art should teach truth. • Art is the only way through which men can reach truth. • Art is more important than truth. • Art and truth have nothing in common. • The message may be that ....... art is the only way men have to reach truth, but also that beauty and truth are the same thing and they identify, so the artist is the true philosopher of humankind. Complete with the words given below. perfection imperfection moment ode fade fulfil immortalizing ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’is considered Keats’ masterpiece, a work different in style and content from most Romantic poets. He uses the classical form of the ode to celebrate a beautiful artistic object, which reflects the perfection of the classical world which produced it. Art is able to preserve the perfect beauty of a specific moment or situation in the scenes depicted on the urn: the girl’s beauty will never fade, the passion of the lover and the pleasures of music will always be the same. The perfection of art is superior to the imperfection of the physical world and it is only through art that man can fulfil his desire for permanence. The theme of the immortalizing value of art has a great literary tradition from the classics (i.e. the Latin poet Horace) to Shakespeare’s sonnets.

7. CONCLUSIONS • In conclusion, we may say that the Ode is built on the contrast “time – eternity”, which can also be read “life –art”. • The figures on the Greek vase, caught in unchangeable attitudes, by contrast suggest considerations on the passing, the decay of human activities. In the world of the urn moments of happiness, youth, spring, are preserved against time, but they have also been deprived of warmth, of life; they have not been fulfilled, and are just cold marble decoration. • Imaginationallows the artist to produce a work of art, art means achieving eternal beauty, which leads to truth. • The poet perceives the contrast existing between the ideal and reality, art and life, and he wants to point out that what the spirit can create is more beautiful and true than reality itself, and what art builds lives forever . • Keats’s aesthetic creed is expounded in the last two lines: beauty, in life or art, is the revelation of the eternal truth, and so is the ultimate aim of life.