Re-examination of Motifs in an Urn

           In Ode on a Grecian Urn, John Keats describes his opinions on what it would feel like to be eternal. While some people may dream of having eternal life, Keats believes that if someone or something could live forever, that life would not be all peaches and cream. The first paragraph of last week’s post focuses on the positive aspects of eternity as expressed through sensory language in the second and third stanzas of Keats’ poem. A piece of evidence used is “soft pipes, play on” (12). Much of the time, music is associated with happiness or peace or festivities (depending on the context). Because the second stanza is about pursuing love, the music here is expected to be soft, sweet, and pleasing to the ear. I explain in the previous blog that “[by] including the words ‘play on’, there is no indication of when those unheard songs will stop”. The musician will always be playing this sweet song, so the readers think Keats’ supports the idea that eternity is a good thing. I also write on how the third stanza revisits the same characters in stanza two so that “the reader recalls those ‘happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed your leaves’ (21-22), the ‘happy melodist…forever piping songs forever new’ (24) and the love between those lovers as something ‘forever warm’, ‘forever panting, and forever young’ (26, 27)”. Keats’ intentional repetitions of “happy” and “forever” in such proximity reinforce the idea that they go hand in hand.

            Even though there are positive aspects of eternity, the poet moves on to point out its darker side. My previous post touches on the other stanzas to Ode on a Grecian Urn. A sacrifice is about to take place in stanza four, and all the people from one town are traveling to the altar. I write that “the town itself is deserted and its ‘streets forevermore will silent be’ (38-39). Eternity here is not a happy thing because none of the townspeople will ever be able to return home – the townsfolk are perpetually stuck in their travels”. On the other hand, I could have also explained the significance behind why Keats includes a scene of sacrifice on the urn. Perhaps this sacrifice also alludes to the sacrifice of eternal living – that having a never-ending life means giving up companions who, presumably, do not live forever and expecting long periods of solitude and silence. If I included the above point, it would have been easier to connect it to the other examples I used such as “Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe”(47) and “foster child of silence and slow time”(2). These quotes were included in my blog post to further support Keats’ belief that “eternity may have its instances of happiness, music, and the company of others, [but] it definitely has a longer lasting period of emptiness and silence.”

Motif in an Urn

           Throughout the five stanzas of Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, the theme of eternity is repeated. In the second and third stanzas, eternity is brought up mainly through sensory language with positive associations. When Keats introduces melodies in the second stanza, he mentions that “those unheard are sweeter” (11-12) and commands the “soft pipes, play on” (12). By including the words “play on”, there is no indication of when those unheard songs will stop. Keats notes that the “fair youth, beneath the trees canst not leave thy song” (15, 16) just as how the trees will never lose its leaves, once again brining up this theme of eternity. As for the Bold Lover and the one he loves, “forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!” (20). Here, the poet explicitly uses the word “forever” in conjunction with positive things – love and this woman’s beauty. The third stanza is even more conspicuous as he repeats those same ideas with those same characters from the previous stanza: the reader recalls those “happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed your leaves” (21-22), the “happy melodist…forever piping songs forever new” (24) and the love between those lovers as something “forever warm”, “forever panting, and forever young” (26, 27). His sensory word choice in line 30 depicts how love may physically affect the body with “a burning forehead, and a parching tongue”. The many repetitions of “happy” and “forever” clearly indicate that eternity preserves the love, joy and beauty of youth.

            Although eternity is presented in a positive light, Keats goes on to illustrate the more negative side to timelessness. Stanza four describes a sacrifice about to take place but instead of mentioning eternity with sensory language, he correlates words with negative connotations to eternity. Since everyone in the town is on a trek to where the sacrifice will take place, the town itself is deserted and its “streets forevermore will silent be” (38-39). Eternity here is not a happy thing because none of the townspeople will ever be able to return home – the townsfolk are perpetually stuck in their travels. In the fifth stanza, there are marble statues in a forest setting. While beautiful, the “silent form, dost tease us out of thought as doth eternity” (44-45). In those lines, the poet compares this perplexing marble scene to eternity; both have meanings which cannot completely be grasped no matter how long one wonders about it. Since this is so frustrating, he calls this scene “cold”. At the very end of this poem, there is a more morbid scene where the current generation has passed on and this urn “remain, in midst of other woe” (47); it is once again alone. This is reinforced in line two of the first stanza where Keats describes the urn as a “foster child of silence and slow time”. While eternity may have its instances of happiness, music, and the company of others, it definitely has a longer lasting period of emptiness and silence.

Sonnets, and novels, and tweets! Oh, my!

            Sonnets are a form of writing that conveys much emotion in an artistic manner. Despite its structure – fourteen lines, a set number of syllables per line, and a specific rhyming scheme – this form of poetry is still very free and expressive. As mentioned in class, the expectation for a sonnet is that the poet will somehow present his current problem and the couplet will be an attempted solution, but he does not have to be blatantly clear about what that problem or solution is. More often than not, the poet is vague and even confusing in his word choice; this allows for multiple meanings to the poet’s words and freedom of interpretation on the readers’ part. Compared to novels, sonnets have more rules. Since novels do not have many rules, writers have a great degree of freedom in their writing style and the length of the book, but the novel needs to be relatively clear. Each chapter builds on the chapters preceding it, so there can only be one main plot to the story, perhaps with a few subplots, and the plot has to be consistent with itself or else the readers will get lost. Of course, the writer can include many more characters in a novel and can choose to develop certain characters throughout the story. For this reason, novels are more intricate than sonnets. On the other hand, tweets are very short – up to 140 characters in length – so people on twitter must be concise. People usually tweet about daily life, interesting events, or anything they have attached a lot of emotion to such as a car crash or a surprise birthday party. Informal language and abbreviations are commonly used. Tweets are a view into someone’s life moment by moment, but the topics do not have to correlate with each other.

            In Sonnet 73, Shakespeare uses different imagery to describe the problem of his fading love for this woman. His sonnet describes a change of seasons, the day turning dark, and a dying fire. Rhyming words that directly contribute to this theme of fading away are “cold”, “sang”, “take away”, “rest”, “lie”, and “expire”. Throughout his sonnet and in the couplet, Shakespeare acknowledges that this woman is aware of his waning love for her. The solution is that she must leave him soon. This couplet definitely provides a sense of conclusion, not only because of the solution Shakespeare writes about but also because the rhyming words “strong” and “long” in the couplet directly contrast the theme of fading away. Of course, we would naturally associate these two words with a lasting love, but Shakespeare uses them in a way that tells us quite a contrary story.