Ode to a Grecian Urn by John Keats

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Ode to a Grecian Urn is a portrayal of pure creativity and imagination. In this poem, John Keats goes outside the realms of the physical world by addressing the surreal. Given the fact that Keats belongs to the Romanticist era that ushered in the enlightenment period, it is not surprising that most of his poetry tends to cross the borders of physical reality. It can be argued that Keats goes into the very extreme of poetic liberty, by violating the norms of ordinary language. But then, as Plato once said in his tirade against the poet’s lofty imaginations, poetry is ‘thrice removed from reality.’ By getting inspiration from nature, Keats transforms his experiences to represent what his fantasies inspire him to envision (Colvin 166).

This coinage by Plato implies that the poet does not appeal to the ordinary, but rather to the extraordinary. As Keats suggests in Ode to a Nightingale, the poet is actually a lonely adventurer exploring what the ordinary spirit could not grasp. In Nightingale, he sees the bird “as a creature that has already escaped the confines of the tangible world” (Anderson 2010). This is because in poetry, the familiar is defamiliarized and the ordinary mystified. In this regard, Ode to a Grecian Urn is Keats’ attempt to overcome the limits of reality. His wandering spirit captures fleeting images of love and grief or frozen in the curving of the urn. But within this paradoxical juxtaposition of romance and sorrow, Keats portrays the romanticist’s ability to create an ideal world out of a chaotic one. This essay examines the theme of joy and grief in Ode to a Grecian Urn, as a portrayal of the dilemmas of life.

In the first stanzas, Keats seems to directly address the urn. He addresses it that “Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness…..Thou foster-child of silence and slow time” (Keats 32 1-2). This indicates his attempts to engage himself with things that are removed from reality. By finding a way to ‘talk’ to the urn, Keats portrays the power of poetry to overcome inspire one into the idealized and fantasized world. The first notions of love are indicated by the mention of the bride, suggesting a desire for intimate connection. The paradox of the sought happiness and the unfulfilling nature of reality is portrayed by calling it a foster child, meaning that what the urn represents, i.e. the joy, love and happiness of a bride, could not be achieved in the real world, since for being a foster child, it lacks nurturance. This is a strong indication that Keats believed true joy to exist in the surreal world, and that the physical one is not well suited for personal fulfillment (Tacia, 154).

At the same time, he suggests that the pursuit of happiness is like chasing shadows, that it cannot be experienced to one’s satisfaction. In his imagination, he sees visions of men and gods, all in mad pursuit of their fantasies and struggles to escape from the entrapments of reality (line 8-9). But his Lack to distinguish between images of mortals and gods implies the thin line of distinction between the real and the surreal since gods and morals do not inhabit the same worlds.

Keats’ detachment from the real world is further portrayed when he says that:

“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 time (Keats 32)

In these lines, Keats glorifies the satisfaction gained in the silence of the surreal world (symbolized by the urn). The element of fantasy is indicated by the imaginary music, which he finds sweeter than what real words and ordinary sound could manage. Rather than sound, it is the visions of his fantasies as he gazes on the urn which present his beauty, and inspires him to dream of the silent and unheard melodies (11).

The irony of life is further portrayed by the element of time, which could affect the urn, but not the images carved on its surface. This is indicated by the characters of the urn, who are forever seeking what they could not achieve but are nonetheless invincible to the effects of time. Keats says that:

“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 though love, and she be fair!” (Keats 32, 17-20).

The irony is in the sense that although the fantasized world is full of promise, it presents opportunities that cannot be achieved by mortals. The real world is harsh, but it offers what can be actually experienced, unlike the metaphysical one where even the bold lover could not get a kiss. It is an eternal pursuit of life, represented by the immortality of the images (Jarod, 143). However, Keats believes that although what the characters on the urn seek could not e experienced as in real life, it is the paradox of life to give something to get another, in this case subjecting oneself to unattainable fantasies so as to avoid the temporality of the physical life. This aspect of the surreal world’s immortality is repeatedly mentioned in the poem when Keats says that:

“When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man” (Keats 32 46-48).

But the reality of life, within which the poet gets his experiences and inspiration, makes it impossible to imagine and at the same time live in the envisioned world. However, Keats’ desires to “capture a moment similar to the one pictured on the vase and live there forever, in one moment of pure joy and delight” (Lee 2010).

Works Cited

Colvin, Sidney. John Keats: His Life and Poetry, His Friends, Critics and After-Fame. New York: Adegi Graphics LLC, 2006.

Jarod, Anderson. Literary Analysis: John Keat’s Poetry. Helium, 2010. Web.

Keats, John. Ode on a Grecian Urn and Other Poems. New York: Kessinger Publishing & Adegi Graphics LLC, 2006.

Tacia, Lee. Literary Analysis. Literary Analysis: John Keats Poetry. Helium, 2010. Web.

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Ode to a Grecian Urn by John Keats

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