Ode on a Grecian Urn
Ode on a Grecian Urn is a poem by John Keats first published in January 1820. It is thought not to be based on any specific Greek vase. The poem captures aspects of Keats's idea of "negative capability": we do not know who the figures are on the urn, what they are doing and where they are going, but this uncertainty, doubt, and mystery does not alter the beauty and truth of the urn. In some way, the urn reminds us of the transcendence of art beside human mortality. The poem begins: Thou still unravished bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
and ends with the famous lines: Beauty is truth, truth beauty, - that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
One of the English language's more famous poems, Ode on a Grecian Urn has frequently been the subject of parody. Desmond Skirrow 'summarized' it thus: - "Gods chase/Round vase./What say?/What play?/Don't know./Nice, though."
External links
- Full text of poem
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