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.”