On John Keats Two Odes

In Ode On A Grecian Urn, one of the five Odes, Keats proved himself as both an avid reader and a remarkable writer of Romantic poems.  Many perceive it as one of the best romantic poems’ examples. The poem primarily focuses on time, truth, art, and beauty. It reflects his life’s experiences and views, which made him always want to write poems about the transformative powers of the imagination and ‘the irresolvable contrariness of experience,’ or, ‘negative capability.’ One of the poem’s critical features is ekphrasis, a Greek poetic or artistic tradition that views the pictorial as female and verbal as male to test the difference between images and words (Spacey, 2020). For instance, the ‘‘…unravish’d bride…’’ [Stanza 1, Line 1] provides an ekphrastic precedent in the poem where male poets perceive visual art as silent, female, sexually frustrating, and hence, in need of a narration that is dominating. What one wonders about is whether the female is ‘‘still’’ out of being yet-to-be ravished or a static object.

The poem explores the idea that following an imagination based on poetry, beauty is truth. Hence, the beautiful art defies the limit posed by both reality and time, as opposed to the transient and temporary human life. In contrast, John Keats’ Ode on Melancholy slightly differs from the other Odes, partly because it addresses the audience rather than emotions or objects. The poem features much Greek imagery and mythology and is also the shortest of all the others. It reflects Keats’ obsession with the Greek classics that he greatly admired and studied at Enfield. The irony in this poem is that although melancholy was one of the classical components of humor and was associated with illnesses during Keats’ time, the poet provides an optimistic view of it. The author postulates that life consists of an intertwining of pain and beauty that we have to leave with.

In other words, Keats has learned to accept the truth that he sees or experiences because pain and joy are integral. We must fully experience melancholy and pleasure for us to experience joy and happiness. This fact contrasts that in Urn where the poet is a dreamer who tries to escape reality into the unchanging and ideal world. Since pain and joy are intertwined, the author implores us to intensely express our emotions when he states in a melancholic tone that “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” [Stanza 1, Line 1-3]. The poems reflect a more rooted and special meaning and background to the poet. Life was so hard and cruel to John Keats while growing up.

His mother and father died when he was only eight years and 14 years, respectively. His brother, whom he had spent some time nursing, later died of tuberculosis, and his guardian prevented him from marrying the love of his life because of withholding his inheritance. By the time he was 23, Keats had already known all the cruelties and the scariest challenges of being human. He struggled with poetry because his colleagues and critics patronized and derided him. However, even with very little formal education, the orphaned young adult and struggling poet would later engrave a permanent mark in the world of arts and poetry, thanks to hard work, determination, and diligence (Guthrie, 2017). He died from consumption in Italy at 25 years, shortly after writing the famous Odes in 1819.

References

Guthrie, C. (2017, December 20). John Keats: “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Retrieved June 2, 2020, from Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/145240/john-keats-ode-on-a-grecian-urn

Keats, J. (1819). Ode on a Grecian Urn. Retrieved June 2, 2020, from Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44477/ode-on-a-grecian-urn

Keats, J. (1819). Ode on Melancholy. Retrieved June 2, 2020, from Poetry Foundation: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44478/ode-on-melancholy

Spacey, A. (2020, January 9). Analysis of the Poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats. Retrieved June 2, 2020, from Owlcation: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Analysis-of-Poem-Ode-On-A-Grecian-Urn-by-John-Keats