¶ … Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats; "The Convergence of the Twain" by Thomas Hardy; and "Fern Hill" by Dylan Thomas. Specifically, it will identify the common theme in these three poems, which is time. Time stops in all three poems for various reasons, and adds to the impact of each poem in a special way.
COMMON THEME
In "Ode on a Grecian Urn," Keats is celebrating the past, stopped in time for a moment on an ancient Grecian urn. Time stands still on the urn, and all the people depicted on it are caught in a fleeting moment of time. Nothing around them can ever change, from the trees, to their love, to their age. "Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; / Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, / Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; / She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, / For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!" (Keats 16-20).
The Grecian urn is ancient, and we can only guess at the lives of the people depicted on it, but their lives have been stopped so we can enjoy them for just a moment, and Keats is celebrating their lives as much as their depiction in his poem. History is a look back in time. Learning about history is looking back at what happened through a magnifying glass. However, looking back at something tangible, like an ancient Grecian urn, it more like looking back at a snapshot in time. By looking at the urn, historians know how people dressed, what they ate, what type of plants were common, and what people did to amuse themselves. Keats description of a fictional urn amounts to the same thing. Whether...
Ode Grecian Entering the Greek and Roman art section of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, I was first struck by the skillful lighting and the overall professionalism inherent in the displays. There were not as many people in this section as in some of the others I had visited that day. Yet because of the caliber of artifacts exhibited at the Met, I still felt continuity with
.." As the youth is in a constant state of seeking, eternally about to experience the joy of a first kiss. Relatable Human Emotion Though Keats means for the symbols to be expressed as unknown through the expression of curiosity about who these individuals might be: "What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape/ Of deities or mortals, or of both,/ In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?/ What men or gods are these? What maidens
Ode to a Grecian Urn Keats John Keats' poem "Ode to a Grecian Urn," contains many messages about life, love, and history. Within its stanzas there are countless allusions to the fact that art, once recorded becomes and ideal of beauty, shattered only by the loss of such art but never degraded by time, memory or corporeal reality. The three themes that repeat throughout the work are those of love, silence,
Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats. Specifically it will discuss the points John Keats makes regarding the power of art to stir the imagination, to survive across time and space, and to give meaning to a world in flux. Keats poem celebrates the urn as an artifact of history and how that artifact is like a snapshot in time, illustrating the lives and the people of long-ago. This
John Keats: A lyric Poem compared to a narrative one The poetry of John Keats: Common themes in "La Belle Dame sans Merci" and "Ode on a Grecian Urn" Both poems by John Keats "La Belle Dame sans Merci" and "Ode on a Grecian Urn" have a common theme: the transient nature of human desire. The poems reflect common Romantic preoccupations: exotic settings, art, and mysterious powers that serve to underline the limited
John Keats The most widely respected source for the history of the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary, records as early as Chaucer in the fourteenth century a meaning for the word "star" used (as the OED puts it) "with reference to the pagan belief that the souls of illustrious persons after death appear as new stars in the heavens." This metaphor seemingly takes a long time to devolve to
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now