John Keats “Ode On A Grecian Urn”
An Ode is defined by Merriam Webster : as a lyric poem usually marked by exaltation of feeling and style varying length of line, and complexity of stanza forms. It is a poem that could also be sung.
The urn tells a story of a celebration. The beginning tells us it is most likely a wedding. “Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness. (line 1). Keats calls the maiden a bride. Is she a true bride or an engaged lady? She and her lover are perfectly preserved on the urn. “Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss” (line 17). This must be her fiancé or husband. The other indication that this urn is telling the story of a celebration is the priest with his adorned cow. “O mysterious priest lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?” (line 33 – 34).
I absolutely love this poem for two reasons. The first is the imagery. It paints a beautiful picture of a piece of pottery. The second reason I love this poem is that it helped me love and appreciate poetry. I wish I could see the urn he wrote about. After reading this poem again, I started to listen more carefully to song lyrics. Bob Marley’s song “Three Little Birds” comes to mind. It gives you the imagery of the doorstep and the birds coming to sing. The song tells a story just like the urn. It makes me very happy when I hear it. I remind myself that everything little thing is gonna be all right cause Bob Marley says so!
Go to You tube and listen to the music and read the words. No matter what is going on in your life you will feel better!
"Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"
Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', ("This is my message to you-ou-ou:")
Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!"
Rise up this mornin',
Smiled with the risin' sun,
Three little birds
Pitch by my doorstep
Singin' sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin', "This is my message to you-ou-ou:"
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, worry about a thing, oh!
Every little thing gonna be all right. Don't worry!"
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing" - I won't worry!
"'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right" - I won't worry!
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing,
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right."
Singin': "Don't worry about a thing, oh no!
'Cause every little thing gonna be all right
Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/bob+marley/#share
Joan,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post on Keats's ode, with a few good quotations from the text. I am confused by your comments about a wedding, though. The urn is called the "bride of quietness" but it is not getting married (although there is perhaps a depiction of a wedding on it). While the speaker does personify the urn, the urn is not a person. I think you might have just included a link to the Marley video, without providing the lyrics. I like Bob Marley's music a lot, but it really seems a bit out of place to quote them here, and they distract the focus from Keats. If you see connection between the lyrics and the ode, you really need to discuss it more in the post to justify the quotation.
I really liked this poem as well. I agree with you, it does have great imagery to where you can almost visualize the urn itself. I think the urn was made to stories rather than for celebration. From the poem, i thought that it had more than one story being told by the pictures on it. Although, the only ones I really understood was there was one picture a group of men trying to pursue a group of women and another picture of a kid playing a pipe. So I could have missed the rest.
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