Ode itself is of Greek origin….

Ode:- is a short lyrical composition proper to

be set to music or sung. It is a lyric poem

characterized by sustained noble sentiments

and appropriate dignity of style.

In 1819 , Keats had attempted to write sonnets , but he found that the form

did not satisfy his purpose because the pattern of rhyme worked against the

tone that he wanted to achieve.

When he turned to ode form, he found that the standard “Pindaric” form used

by poets such as John Dryden was inadequate for….

Why an ode form??

……….Properly discussing philosophy.

Keats developed his own type of ode in “ ode on a Grecian Urn” and other odes he wrote in 1819.

From where did he get inspiration?

The inspiration of this ode has been derived from a

marble urn belonging to Lord Holland.

1st Stanza

It is a foster child of silence and slow time, since it is passing so slowly that it has not been able to destroy the grandness of the urn.

Just as a bride remains calm and quiet, maintaining her beauty so also the urn remains undisturbed and untarnished for a long time.

The poet sees the urn which has been standing at its place for many years untarnished by weather etc. he calls it a bride of quietness, a foster child of

silence and slow time and a woodland historian.

2nd stanza

‘Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

are sweeter , therefore, ye soft pipes, play on!’

because in heard music there is no place for aflight of imagination, while in unheard musicfancy gets a free play. Imagination gives anexquisite sweetness and richness which cannever found in the heard music. unheard musicappeals to the soul, it has spiritual, not thephysical appeal.

3rd stanza

• It tells about Keats’s feeling that he is extremely unhappy.

• This expresses the difference between life and reality . The green trees will never shed their leaves and will enjoy the perpetual summer.

• The melodies will always remain young and his song will remain ever fresh and new.

• The urn is record of lovely yet fatal enchantment.

4th stanza

Imagery of sacrifice :-

There he sees as scene of sacrifice where people

are going in large number, and wonder who

these people are. There is the priest going with

the people.

He calls him mysterious because he knows the

secret reason of offering sacrifice.

“ode on a Grecian Urn” : is it a

ironic humor????

‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,-that is allYe know on earth, and all ye need to know.’