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.
(Lynch, et al. 930)
In John Keats's poem Ode on a Grecian Urn, the speaker is addressing not only the art of on the urn, but the futility life itself. This section of Stanza 5 of the poem depicts the speaker looking at a decorated urn with wonder and speculation. He speaks to the inanimate urn, endowing it with human characteristics when he says "thou." The important idea to note is that Keats is not just creating a commentary on Greek art, but a commentary on human endeavors.
(Lynch, et al. 930)
In John Keats's poem Ode on a Grecian Urn, the speaker is addressing not only the art of on the urn, but the futility life itself. This section of Stanza 5 of the poem depicts the speaker looking at a decorated urn with wonder and speculation. He speaks to the inanimate urn, endowing it with human characteristics when he says "thou." The important idea to note is that Keats is not just creating a commentary on Greek art, but a commentary on human endeavors.
Here we see a drawing of the urn by John Keats, where humanities struggle goes beyond a single emotion. The downcast face of the figure on the right contrasts with the joyful figure to the left. This shows only one side of the urn, but the stark contrast of the two characters expresses that the rest of the urn must be full of a range of emotions.
Though the speaker refers to the urn as thou, he
ends the poem by speaking to ye. Ye is the reader, and the urn as well. In a way, the speaker is telling the urn of its
limited scope of emotion. The speaker is not only addressing the urn, as their range or speculation goes beyond a single idea depicted on the urn, such as beauty. A more considerable
argument would be that ye refers to the author's own epiphany,
and who he addresses. Yet the clearer argument is the singularity of
both urn and audience; the audience being humanity.
In the first stanza, the
urn is referred to as the "unravish'd bride of quietness," and the
"foster-child of silence," ("Ode" lines 1-2). As the bride of
quietness and the child of silence, the urn has lived a very boring life unravished. Keats's
use of lonely figurative imagery contrast with the busy literal imagery found
on the urn, which explains line 4 where the speaker refers to the depictions on
the urn as "a flowery tale."
However the speaker is
also referring to humanity here to address the dilemma of wasted life, spoken
in line 46, “when old age shall this generation waste.” The unravished bride of
quietness is humanity's life of inconsequentiality. This is confirmed not only
by the overall melancholy tone of the poem, but the emphasis on the futility of
human endeavors: The pastoral piper plays "not to the sensual ear"
(human ear) but to "more endear'd" ("Ode" line 13) - the spirits;
the "fair youth, beneath the trees," (line 15) can't leave - this is
because his spirit is stuck in the urn; and the "bold
lover, never, never canst thou kiss," (line 17).
It would appear that
these depressing notes are rationalized by the lines "yet, do not grieve;
she cannot fade...for ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!" ("Ode" lines
18-20). However, stanza 2 relies heavily on ethereal imagery and thus each
claim must be taken into context in order for the reader to understand the
speaker’s message, that life is wasted in humanity’s innocence. The fair youth
can't leave from underneath the tree because his spirit is stuck, the bold
lover will never be kissed because she too is stuck, "she cannot
fade" because she is a spirit and therefore immortal, and the two lovers
passion will last "for ever," in death.
Though the afterlife is not specifically mention in the poem, "passion" that "will last for ever" alludes to that idea, while the afterlife was a common theme throughout romanticism and Keats's other muse, neoclassicism - as evidenced by Keats's use of capital letters for emphasis, a particularly neo-classical trait. The reader can understand the purpose of the speaker’s message with the connection to Keats’s allusions to other forms of literature; by understanding the connection, the theme of death and the treatment of life as insignificant are made clearer. (Connection between romanticism and neoclassicism addressed in class February 18th).
Though the afterlife is not specifically mention in the poem, "passion" that "will last for ever" alludes to that idea, while the afterlife was a common theme throughout romanticism and Keats's other muse, neoclassicism - as evidenced by Keats's use of capital letters for emphasis, a particularly neo-classical trait. The reader can understand the purpose of the speaker’s message with the connection to Keats’s allusions to other forms of literature; by understanding the connection, the theme of death and the treatment of life as insignificant are made clearer. (Connection between romanticism and neoclassicism addressed in class February 18th).
Stanza 3 also alludes to the afterlife through euphoric language which contrasts with the inconsequentiality of mortal
life. This is shown through inflated language not expressed in any other stanza,
such as “happy, happy boughs!” and “happy love! More happy, happy love!” ("Ode" lines 21 and 25). From stanza 2's tone of motionless (meaningless) life, stanza
3 contrasts with the warmth and happiness of
the afterlife "far above" (line 28). It also refers to the
urn, physically, where the speaker notices the boughs of the trees "that
cannot shed [their] leaves" (lines 21-22) due to their permanent state
(painted on the urn).
Therefore stanza 5's
mention of a "silent form" can refer to both the death of humanity as
well as the inactivity of the urn. This silent form "dost tease us out of
thought," which, according to Shmoop, means to "disentangle,"
(Shmoop Editorial Team). The silent form of the urn discourages the speaker
(disentangles him from thoughts of hope for humanity, i.e. stanza 3), because
it is "brede[d]" with "marple men and maidens overwrought [by
marble men]" ("Ode" line 42). The speaker is teased out
of encouraging thoughts "as doth [thoughts of] eternity: Cold
Pastoral" (line 45) tease him out of negative thoughts. This stanza speaks
on the non-heavenly afterlife, the more incarcerative (i.e. hell) which men of
this nature are banished to, rather than the heavenly realm, reserved for the
innocence of the those with lives of such oppressed passion such as the youth
and his lover. This is shown by the contrast in foliage with stanza 3:
"happy boughs! that cannot shed your leaves, nor even bid the spring
adieu," (lines 21-22), "forest branches and the trodden weed,"
(line 43). The parasitic imagery of weeds along with the contrasting
invigorative trees of stanza 3 show the choice in destination of humanity, as
well as the contrasting images observed by the speaker.
Whether it be a wasted motionless life
or a wasted overwrought life, the speaker remains confident
that life's essential beauty will be captured by the beauty of the urn, that
the urn "shalt remain" as well as humanity as a whole, and that
despite "other woe than ours" the urn will continue to capture the
beauty of both calamity and love in its honest depiction of human nature,
upholding the ode that "beauty is truth, truth beauty," ("Ode" line
49).
Works
Cited
Lynch, Deidre, and Jack
Stillinger. “John Keats.” The Norton Anthology English Literature. Ninth
ed. Vol. D. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. 930-31. Print.
L, GR. Drawing of the Sosibios Vase. Digital image. Flickr. Yahoo!, 17 Nov. 2005. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.
L, GR. Drawing of the Sosibios Vase. Digital image. Flickr. Yahoo!, 17 Nov. 2005. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.
Shmoop Editorial Team.
"Ode on a Grecian Urn: Stanza V Summary." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 8 Mar. 2015.
Shmoop analysis: http://www.shmoop.com/ode-grecian-urn/
