“Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats explores the mysteries, truths, and immortal stories that have lived on through the art on Grecian urns. The art on the urns tell a story about the person whose remains it holds, but interpretations of the story have changed with time. This is evident when Keats writes, “When old age shall this generation waste, / Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe” (46-47). He is saying as newer generations are born, the stories on the urns still remain the same. Those that knew of the person mourn in memory. Meanwhile, the newer generations that never knew the person, now only know what the art shows them. This is shown by the lines, “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter… / Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d” (11-13). The art in someway makes the memory of that person immortal because their story lives on past their death. While a person no longer lives to tell of truth which is represented by their “silent melodies” in the poem, they are now depicted on the urn for those who wish to look at them. “While silent be; and not a soul to tell / Why thou art desolate, can e’er return” (39-40). This line implies that the pictures can not actively tell a story, but they can present one to someone who looks at it. The art will remain on the urn for a while after the person’s death.
On the contrary, the truths to those stories can become blurred as time moves on. The questions in the first stanza seem to imply that the urn is more full of questions and mysteries than of truths. While the art that represents a truth does not change and still represents the same truth, the interpretation of the art changes and thats what causes the mysteries to arise in the real truth of a story; certain things gain or lose meaning overtime. Additionally, sometimes things become indecipherable when art changes as well. The idea of mysteriousness and ambiguousness is also reflected by the rhyme scheme. The first seven lines of each stanza seems to follow an ababcde rhyme scheme but the last three lines vary by stanza. They each have different patterns of dce, ced, or cde. Each stanza can take on different rhyme schemes just like each interpretation can have a different truth. The main focus of this poem however is that art does hold some kind of truth that allows a story to become “immortal.” Lines 49-50 say, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,–that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
This post is really interesting! I think that you capture the central tension of the poem–the craving for immortality versus its implications once we have it– really well. One of the complexities of immortality according to the poem is the idea that you expressed about modern people being able to project their own meanings onto past stories. Is this a good thing? Is this what makes art special? Or does it just allow people to twist others’ legacies? Another complexity that I found really interesting was the idea that once a story is immortalize, it is effectively frozen in time (see the line about the two lovers kissing!). I think that the poem praises art’s ability to capture a story, but advises us to immortalize moments wisely because once they’re stuck that way, the story can never move forward.
I really like the idea you talk about in the second paragraph; art produces so many questions because it can be interpreted in so many ways. I think this fits super well into what we were talking about as well in class–that the closer you get to art sometimes the more mysterious it gets. In a way, as one finds out more and more about a piece of art they have more questions and more complex interpretations which are very personal and differs for each individual.