Ode on a Grecian urn

Alliteration:
2. (red color)
Songs

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

You
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Pleasant effect Beloved

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,

Simple short song

Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:

Can

Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave

Without leaves

Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;

Can

Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,

Sob

Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;

to disappear gradually Happiness

She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,

For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

1
 Ode on a Grecian urn

Paraphrase:
The music that we hear is sweet but which we have not heard is far more
sweet. Therefore, O sweet piper play on your music. The music of these pipes is
not for sensual ear, it appeals to my spirit. This music has no tone in the world
of senses.
Fair youth who is beneath the tree cannot stop his song and tree cannot shed
their leaves . Bold lover, you will never be able to kiss your beloved, though you
may have go quite near your goal , yet you should not be sorry because she will
remain as beautiful as she is although you may not be able to have your
pleasure. You have the advantage of being able to go on loving for all time to
come and she will always be beautiful for you.

Line by line discussion:

Line 11: Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Line 12: Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
This stanza speaks of things that are not in the scene on the urn. When we look
at the urn, we might hear music in our imagination, but that music isn’t really
there. The speaker of the poem draws our attention to this, and he says the
music that you can’t actually hear, that imaginary music, is actually better
than real music. Quite an interesting statement to make. Do you agree with the
poet?
Line 13: Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
The pipes (= flutes) in the picture on the urn play not to our physical
(“sensual”) ears, but to the ears of our imagination. And these are better
loved (“more endear’d), or at least the speaker of the poem thinks so, than
our real ears.
Line 14: Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
A ditty is a simple song. The flutes are asked to play with the songs, but they
are spirit songs. The songs don’t exist either; they have no tone, as they exist
only in the imagination of the person who is looking at the urn. But hey, wait,
2
 Ode on a Grecian urn
even the urn itself doesn’t actually exist, as it exists only in the mind of the
poet. After all, the poet didn’t refer us to an existing urn. He never said:
“Please go to the British Museum and have a look at the famous Apollo urn.”
Or whatever other famous pot. In fact, we have no idea which urn Keats is
talking about. Even the urn is in the imagination.
Line 15: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Line 16: Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
These lines and the ones until the end of the stanza teach us another aspect of
art. Visual art captures only one moment, and makes it eternal. The youth are
always under the trees. Fair means beautiful. The people are in the scene are
always hearing the same song. The trees will never lose their leaves.
Line 17: Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
The lover will never get the kiss he is waiting for.
Line 18: Though winning near the goal—yet, do not grieve;
But the lover still has won a few points. He doesn’t need to be sad.
Line 19: She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
The woman he wants will not fade = she will not grow ugly and old. On the
other hand, he will never be satisfied.
Line 20: For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
His love will be forever, and she will forever be beautiful.

Explanation:
Keats begins this stanza with confident wisdom: the urn’s tale is sweeter
than poetry, the urn’s sweet silent music is preferable to “heard
melodies” played to the “sensual ear”—“therefore, ye soft pipes, play
on,” he directs. In a charming pun, Keats rhymes ear with endear’d; the
spirit’s ear hears more endearing ditties, and even the word ditties is
endearing even though ditties have “no tone” in a poem of deeply felt tones.
3
 Ode on a Grecian urn
The enchanted sounds, calm caesuras, and finely paced iambs (“soft pipes”)
create intimacy to deflect his anxiety, although he undercuts his own medium.

 The second stanza introduces the piper and his lover. There is a
handsome young man who is singing a song under the shady tree . The
young man will continue to sing his song till eternity and the tree will
always remain fresh and leafy. This eludes to the notion that the
potential for music is more appealing because it enhances the idea of an
eternal, unchanging world.
 Again, the narrator’s interest is piqued, but he decides that the
“melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter.” Unaffected by
growing old or changing fashions, the notes the narrator imagines the
man playing offer unlimited potential for beauty. While the figures will
never grow old, the music also contains an immortal quality, one much
“sweeter” than regular music.
 These lines (unheard melodies) present Platonic idea that all things of
"real world" that we experienced with five senses , however beautiful
they may seem , are only imperfect immitation of certain "ideal forms"
which exist in calm and unchanging perfection apart from man's world
where things take birth , grow, decay and unheard melodies contain
infinite possibilities of melody tunes , must be sweeter than particular
heard melodies.
 The poet understands the superiority of imagination over reality. The
pipers are not producing any sound but through his imagination he can
enjoy the music. Imagination provides the divine enjoyment of music to
the spirit. This beautiful scene is touching the spirit, providing spiritual
pleasures as compare to heard music which strikes the physical ear only.
So the poet wishes that the imaginary man carved on the urn should
continue to play on pipe.
 The music which is actually heard is short lived and the music which we
imagine is is of permanent nature.
 There is another picture in which a young lover is shown trying to kiss a
girl. But however near the goal he may be will not find it possible to kiss
his beloved because it has been painted on the posture and there can be
4
 Ode on a Grecian urn
no chance in it. Pleasures of perpetual expectation are bought at the
price of perpetual inactivity.
 The idea of love has been presented in a unique way . According to this
poem, love is never a happy circumstance. If lovers achieve their goal,
get satisfaction, love becomes less attractive, uninteresting, lost charm,
but if can not be achieved, cause frustration as the aggressive lover will
never be able to kiss his beloved, although there is a consolation that her
beauty can never fade , it is everlasting and he will love her always.
 In love, as depicted on the urn the consummation is denied but the
passions/urge continues , the beauty which raised the passion also does
not fade away. The silent, perfect unchanging beauty is preferred to
living beauty which is in a constant state of flux at the phrases like "never
canst thou kiss" and "thou last not thy bliss" make it clear that the
pleasures of perpetual expectation are bought at the price of perpetual
inactivity. Apparently, it has all the joys and none of the sufferings but it
goes with actual human passions. The whole scene shows things of
perfection of Greek art and the reality of human life.
 The idea of "immortality of art" has been enforced here through the
pictures of pipers, trees, lovers etc. The central contrast lies between the
unending happiness arrested in art and the brevity of happiness
arrested in mortal life. The idea is further developed through the image of
the piper who will sing forever without feeling tired and trees will enjoy
an endless spring. The handsome young man will continue to sing his
song till eternity, the tree will always remain fresh and leafy. A young man
is trying to kiss his beloved, but however near the goal he may be, he will
never find it possible to kiss his beloved because they had been painted in
that posture. There can be no change in it. But the lover shall not feel
sorry if his desire is not fulfilled because his love will never decrease.
 In the world of art, things always remain fresh and attractive. The pipes,
the trees, the lover , the young girl who is being chased, have all passed
away but here on the urn they live forever. Art has made their beauty and
love eternal.

5
 Ode on a Grecian urn
 a few lines, Keats sketches these classical characters—the piper, the bold
lover, and the young woman trapped in art’s dilemma: to be forever
young, in love, and never alive.
 The supernatural world of urn is very attractive. Keats appreciate the
artistic perfection of urn, art has lasted a touch of immortality not only to
the urn itself but also to the all that has been carved upon it.
 Here Keats shows only temporary refuge in the world of beauty and
imagination. Neither option seems very desirable, although the poem
tells us that if we were to choose one , the eternal chase would be a
happy state of affairs.