"Ode on a Grecian Urn" - Poetry Blog 3

When reading the poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats, I found the first few lines very confusing. “Though still unravish’d bride of quietness,/ Though foster child of silence and slow time” (lines 1-2). Keats is referring to the urn as an unravish’d bride and a foster child. It seems that by this he means that the urn has been forgotten or left behind and has been adopted by someone else. In the first stanza, Keats asks several questions about the imagery that is produced on the urn. “In Tempe or dales of Arcady?/ What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?/ What made pursuit? What struggle to escape?/ What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?” (lines 7-10). I found it easier to understand these questions after I found out what some of the imagery on the urn was. In stanzas two, three, and four, Keats explains this imagery. “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;” (lines 15-18). In these lines Keat is describing a couple under a tree. The impression this gives the reader is that everything is perfect. However, in the next stanza Keat changes the tone of the poem and begins to describe how the images on the urn aren’t correct because mortals, or humans, have to go through lots of hardships. There were a couple of other images that the poet described in stanza four. The first was a priest taking a cow to a sacrifice and the next was a deserted town. The poet also asks a question about this town. “Is emptied of this fold, this pious morn?” (line 37). It seems that the poet is asking himself this but cannot find an answer. Finally in the fifth stanza, the poet gives the reader his conclusion of the urn. “Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe/ Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,” (lines 47-48). It seemed that the poet reason for writing “Ode on a Grecian Urn” was a tribute to the urn as well as the past. After reading through this poem a few times, and with a little help from Mrs. Beyer, I was left with a little sense of awe.