Ode on a Grecian Urn

Ode on a Grecian Urn

What's an Ode?

Traditionally, the ode is lengthy (as lyrics go), serious in subject matter, elevated in its diction and style, and often elaborate in its stanzaic structure. There were two classical prototypes, one Greek, the other Roman. The first was established by Pindar, a Greek poet, who modeled his odes on the choral songs of Greek drama.

Our Urn...

Analysis of Ode on a Grecian Urn

After being able to actually make an urn, and observing in detail what the story in it said, I have been able to draw plenty connclusion about this Ode. First of all, the power in the images that Keats uses is crucial, specially in his synasthesias, such as, "Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:", or "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter". The purpose of these synaesthesias being the portrayal of the "oneness of life", and how separate senses are really all united. Emotions are stronger than the apparent separation there is between the senses.

Another very important aspect of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is the contrast between the dynamism and stillness of life in the Urn. The poetical I is oberving how the micro-cosmos in the Urn is moving, moving at the beat of the pipes that are playing in the background, at the beat of the seasons (Spring). He scrutinizes on the fact that this world will be forever young, and for ever living. But at the same there is the fact, the paradox of the dynamicity in the story, the liveliness in it, against the stillness and death. 

Furthermore, the poetical I is very ambivalent in his tone. "More happy love! more happy, happy love! 
Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,
Forever panting, and forever young;"  These lines are in the 3rd stanza, where he describes everything as joyfull, as the perfect undying world. But later, two stanzas later, " Cold Pastoral!" , here the prior happy descriptions are contradicted by harsher ones. This ambivalence in the tone of the poem suggests maybe, resent towards the urn, and what the urn represents, youth and purity against the aging of mortal human life.

Deeper analysis of Ode on a Grecian Urn

2nd Stanza

Shallowness of reality vs. Deepness of the ideal. "Unheard melodies" (oximoron) are "sweeter" than heard ones, imagination goes beyond actual, rational thought. The word "spirit" gives a celestial quality to the music coming from the pipes, that would never be heard, but imagined in the fantasy above. Later he describes the melody, as the "youth" that will never leave, going back to the stillness, to the eternal, undying, unseasoned youth. This is then contrastes, maybe contradicted with a bit of irony, when the speaker says "Bold lover, never, never canst thou kiss", suggesting that given by the circumstance of being forever still, no real action will take place, this love will never be fulfilled: "Though winning near the goal", but then he goes back to reality where he tells the Bold lover that the kiss will never really happen: "yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade...For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!" Tension between the desire of leaving the world of reality and staying in the world of fantasy. Reality drags him down, but the upthrust of fantasy is what creates the tension between these two opposing forces. 

Pyramid Activity

In brief, the pyramid activity consisted of discussing what elememts of the poem had striked us the most, and writing these down on a post-it, and after everybody in the group had done it, put them in a hierarchical order: a pyramid. This is our pyramid...

At the bottom of the pyramid the more specific ideas were posted, and at the top, the general ones. These were fedback to class and discussed.

After carrying out the pyramid activity a few relfections and conslusions can be drawn on the dyanmics of the activity. Firstly, the formation of generalizations is crucial for the understanding of any topic, but specially a complex and crowded poem as Ode on a Grecian Urn. It is very important to back up and build towards these generalizations through the outline and comprehension of the specifics that compose them, if not generalizations are hollow and useless ideas. 

A group dynamic made the activity even more enrichening, mainly because the fact of giving and idea a concrete, wordly form makes it a more productive and useful tool for the analysis of any topic, maybe if this group activity wouldn't have been done, then these notions wouldn't have gotten to light.

 Leadership skills were also put to practice in this group activity, since decisions had to be made over which ideas were central and which were peripheral. These decisions should be democratically made, but a leader, sooner or later, will be needed. In this acticity I think Ana de Lezica was able to play that role, and be the leader of the team, and make that final decision.