Author: Ano Sensei
Format: Video
Structure: Iambic pentameter, Ode stanza
Related content:
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- • Keats: Ode on a Grecian Urn – Reading & Analysis (Video)
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John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian urn": A reading
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzVb6yL_jY69RMez733LUEYNI4-LgSjGh
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Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
... Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd 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 loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
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!
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.
O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
#romanticpoetry #keats #keatsode #johnkeats #keatsurn #grecian #naturepoem #naturepoetry #beautyistruth #nature #poetry #poetryloversShow More
8 Comments
Thank you.
You are welcome!
0:00 Introduction
0:06 Reading — Stanza I
0:46 Analysis — Stanza I: The urn as Sylvan historian
4:43 Reading — Stanza II
5:32 Analysis — Stanza II: Heard and unheard melodies
8:53 Reading — Stanza III
9:35 Analysis — Stanza III: “Happy, happy love”
12:12 Reading — Stanza IV
12:50 Analysis — Stanza IV: The mysterious priest and the little town
16:12 Reading — Stanza V
16:52 Analysis — Stanza V: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”
One of my favorite poems. Long live Keats and our love for eternal youth, passion, and beauty.
Could you also tell how to put correct punctuation in poems?
I think you basically have the choice of using the poet’s original punctuation or adopting the punctuation of a modern editor. I mostly adopt the usage here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/, but sometimes I feel some small changes are necessary, so I check other published versions.
Great sir! You look a musician, rhythm comes to you naturally. Please do a video Dejection an ode by S T Coleridge
Thank you! I have quite a few commitments at the moment; I will try to do something on Coleridge, but I can’t make any promises!