That Grecian Urn

624 Words3 Pages
“Ode On A Grecian Urn” is a beautiful, somewhat sad poem written by John Keats. In this poem, he describes an urn with several images on it and describes the lives of the subjects from these images, as if they were living. The first of the images depicts a group of men who seem to be pursuing a group of women. He wonders who the men and women are and what their story could be. Next he sees a man and woman laying under a tree, the man playing some sort of pipe. He explains that audible music is beautiful, but the music the man is playing is far more so, because it is silent, but will be played forever by the man. He thinks it is sad that the man will never be able to kiss the woman who is under the tree with him, but it is all right because she will always be young and beautiful. Next, Keats describes the boughs of the trees the man and woman lie under and his happiness that the trees will always be alive and will never shed their leaves. He describes the love of the man and woman under the tree and believes that it is far better than being in love in real life, because he believes real love fades. The last image Keats describes is of a group of villagers coming to sacrifice a heifer. He wonders where they are going and pictures the town they come from as empty since everyone has left and is now frozen on the urn. In closing, Keats explains that while generations of people will come and go, the urn will always live on for future generations and will send the message, “beauty is truth-truth, beauty,” which is the most important thing to know. Connor Weaver January 11, 2012 ENGL-2213-03 McBride Writing #1- Ode To A Grecian Urn “Ode To A Grecian Urn” is a beautiful, somewhat sad poem written by John Keats. In this poem, he describes an urn with several images on it and describes the lives of the subjects from these images, as if they were living. The first
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