1、Ode on a Grecian Urn,Ode on a Grecian Urn is a poem by John Keats written in 1819 and first published in January 1820. It was one of Keats “Five Great Odes of 1819“ which also included Ode on Indolence, Ode on Melancholy, Ode to a Nightingale,and Ode to Autumn. Its inspiration is partly considered t
2、o be a visit by Keats to the exhibition of the Elgin Marbles and partly related to Keatss experience with the aesthetic theories of Benjamin Haydon, Keatss friend and painter, and his collection of Grecian prints.,The lyric poem is divided into five stanzas, each with ten lines, and reflects upon th
3、e images on an ancient Grecian urn with images of Ancient Greeks to whom the narrator addresses his discourse. The poem transitions from a scene depicting a lover eternally pursuing a beloved without fulfillment to a scene that describes a village in which its people ventured off to perform a sacrif
4、ice. The final lines of the poem declare that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,“ -that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know“, a line which has provoked critical consideration.,Structure,The ode is an ancient form originally written for musical accompaniment. In general, the ode of the Rom
5、antic genre is a poem of 30 to 200 lines that meditates progressively upon or directly addresses a single object or condition. Ode to a Grecian Urn follows a strict structural pattern with each stanza containing 10 lines with ten syllables. The complex rhyme scheme of the poem shows a high level of
6、complexity common among odes of Keats time.,Line Groupings,The first four lines of every stanza have a structure of ABAB The remaining 6 lines of the First and Last stanza follow a pattern of CDEDCE The Third and Fourth stanzas end with a structure of CDECDE The Second stanza ends CDECED The first f
7、our lines of each stanza are a Shakespearian based quatrain and the last six lines are a Miltonic based sestet.,The word “ode“ itself is of Greek origin, meaning “sung.“ The form by Keatss time had undergone enough transformation that it really represented a manner rather than a set method for writi
8、ng a certain type of lyric poetry.,Keats odes seek to find a “Classical balance“ between two extremes, and in the structure of Ode on a Grecian Urn, these extremes are the symmetrical structure of Classical Literature and the asymmetry of Romantic Poetry . The use of the ABAB structure in the beginn
9、ing lines of each stanza represents a clear example of the heroic couplets of Classic literature, and the remaining six lines appear to break free of the traditional poetic styles of Greek and Roman odes.,In the first and last stanza of Ode to a Grecian Urn the poet addresses the urn itself from an
10、outward perspective, allowing the narrator to speak directly to the object and to the reader at once. In the middle three stanzas, the poem focuses on the individuals painted on the urn and the relationship between the individual and art. The narrator silences the urn by describing it as the “bride
11、of quietness“, which allows him to speak for it using his own impressions. The narrator addresses the urn by saying:,Thou still unravished bride of quietness! Thou foster-child of silence and slow timebecause it is born from stone and made by the hand of an artist who does not communicate through wo
12、rds. As stone, it is able to slow time and become an eternal piece of artwork. As eternal, the urn is capable of producing a story that is outside of time, and that “sylvan historian“ expresses:,sylvan: pertaining to or living in the woods; hence, a sylvan historian records scenes in the woods.,A fl
13、owry tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed 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?,Tempe: a be
14、autiful valley in Greece, it was sacred to Apollo, the god of poetry and music. Arcady: the literary form of Arcadia, in the central Peloponnesus. Zeus was born there, in one account. The word connotes a place of rural peace and simplicity because of the ancient reputation of its inhaitants as innoc
15、ent and peaceful. timbrels: ancient tambourines,你委身“寂静”的、完美的处子， 受过了“沉默”和“悠久”的抚育， 呵，田园的史家，你竟能铺叙 一个如花的故事，比诗还瑰丽： 在你的形体上，岂非缭绕着 古老的传说，以绿叶为其边缘； 讲着人，或神，敦陂或阿卡狄？ 呵，是怎样的人，或神！在舞乐前 多热烈的追求！少女怎样地逃躲！ 怎样的风笛和鼓谣！怎样的狂喜！,The questions are too ambiguous to create a definite scene, but elements of it are revealed. There
16、is a pursuit and a strong sexual element.,The melody accompanying the pursuit is intensified in the second stanza:Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:,sensual ear
17、: ear of the senses, i.e., which hear.,听见的乐声虽好，但若听不见 却更美；所以，吹吧，柔情的风笛； 不是奏给耳朵听，而是更甜， 它给灵魂奏出无声的乐曲；,There is a hint of a paradox in which indulging causes someone to only want more and a soundless music is desired by the soul. There is also a stasis that prohibits the characters on the urn from ever be
18、ing fulfilled:,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!,树下的美少年
19、呵，你无法中断 你的歌，那树木也落不了叶子； 卤莽的恋人，你永远、永远吻不上， 虽然够接近了但不必心酸； 她不会老，虽然你不能如愿以偿， 你将永远爱下去，她也永远秀丽！,In the third stanza, the narrator begins by speaking to a tree, which will ever hold its leaves and will not “bid the Spring adieu.” The paradox of life versus lifelessness extends beyond the lover and the fair lady
20、 and takes a more temporal shape as three of the ten lines begin with the word “forever.” J. W. Myns Carr describes this phenomenon in “The Artistic Spirit of Modern Poetry”,Men and women perfect in the flesh, with their feet on perfect flowers, move across his fancy as in twilight. The poet has rea
21、ched to their perfection, and returns laden with rich memories of the senses, but, being of his time, he could not cast of the somber uncertain cloud that hid the sun.,Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied, For ever pipin
22、g songs for ever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love!,呵，幸福的树木！你的枝叶 不会剥落，从不曾离开春天； 幸福的吹笛人也不会停歇， 他的歌曲永远是那么新鲜；,The unheard song never ages and the pipes are able to play forever, which leads to the lovers, nature, and all involved to be:More happy love! more happy, happy love! For ever warm and
23、 still to be enjoyd, For ever panting and for ever young; All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.,呵，更为幸福的、幸福的爱！ 永远热烈，正等待情人宴飨， 永远热情地心跳，永远年轻； 幸福的是这一切超凡的情态： 它不会使心灵餍足和悲伤， 没有炽热的头脑，焦渴的嘴唇。,A new paradox arises in these
24、 lines because, according to Harold Bloom, “A mouth that has no moisture and no breath may be able to summon breathless mouths, but it can as easily be called death-in-life as life-in-death“.,In order to overcome this merged life and death paradox, the poem shifts to a new scene with a new perspecti
25、ve. The fourth stanza opens with the sacrifice of a virgin cow, an image that appeared in the Elgin Marbles, and Douglas Bush suggests that Keats could be drawing this image from the “lowing heifer“ in the marbles, from Clauds Sacrifice to Apollo, or Raphaels cartoon “The Sacrifice at Lystra“, which
26、 was also on display at the British Galery in the spring of 1819.,Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Leadst 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 wit
27、h peaceful citadel, Is emptied of its 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 eer return.,这些人是谁呵，都去赶祭祀？ 这作牺牲的小牛，对天鸣叫， 你要牵它到哪儿，神秘的祭司？ 花环缀满着它光滑的身腰。 是从哪个傍河傍海的小镇， 或哪个静静的堡寨山村， 来了这些人，在这敬神的清早？ 呵，小镇，你的街道永远恬静； 再也不可能回来
28、一个灵魂 告诉人你何以是这么寂寥。,All that exists in the scene is a procession of individuals, and the narrator conjectures on the rest. The alter and town exist are part of a world outside of art, and the poem challenges the limitations of art through describing their possible existence. The questions are unanswer
29、ed because there is no one who can ever know the true answers as the locations are not real.,With the final stanza, according to Bloom, “Keats begins. by reminding himself that it is only the artifice of eternity before him“ when he says:,O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede Of marble men and ma
30、idens overwrought, With forest branches and the trodden weed; Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought,Attic: Grecian. Attica is in the central part of Greece where Athens was located. brede: embroidery. overwrought: covered with.,哦，希腊的形状！唯美的观照！ 上面缀有石雕的男人和女人， 还有林木，和践踏过的青草； 沉默的形体呵，你象是“永恒”,Ther
31、e is a limit within the audience to comprehend the eternal scene, but the silent urn is still able to speak. The story it tells is both cold and passionate, and it is able to help mankind:,As doth eternity: Cold pastoral! When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other
32、 woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou sayst, “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,“ -that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.,cold pastoral: pastoral story in marble. pastoral: (1)pertaining to shepherds; hence it connotes simple, peaceful country life and the qualities associated wi
33、th such a life, e.g., naturalness and innocence. (2) a kind of poem which praises the virtues of country living (simplicity, innocence, etc.).,使人超越思想：呵，冰冷的牧歌！ 等暮年使这一世代都凋落， 只有你如旧；在另外的一些 忧伤中，你会抚慰后人说： “美即是真，真即是美，”这就包括 你们所知道、和该知道的一切。,Themes,Although the poem does not include the subjective involvement o
34、f the poet, the urn within the poem requires a human observer, as Walter Jackson Bate puts it: “the very origin of the urn presupposed the hope that it would be rescued into full existence by some later greeting of the Spirit.“ The poem captures aspects of Keatss idea of “Negative Capability“, as th
35、e reader does not know who the figures are on the urn, what they are doing, or where they are going. Instead, the speaker revels in this mystery, as he does in the final couplet, which does not make immediate, ascertainable sense but continues to have poetic significance nonetheless. The ode ultimat
36、ely deals with the complexity of arts relationship with real life.,Throughout the poem, other paradoxes emerge as the narrator compares his world with that of the Ancient Grecians on the urn. In the opening line, he refers to the urn as a “bride of quietness”, which causes Cleanth Brooks to argue th
37、at Keats contrasts the urn with the structure of the ode, which was originally intended to be sung. Likewise, he points to another paradox that arises when the narrator finds immortality on the side of an urn meant to carry the ashes of the dead.,In her study of Ode on a Grecian Urn, Lilia Melani li
38、sts five paradoxes that lead to the ending lines on truth and beauty: the discrepancy between the urn with its frozen images and the dynamic life portrayed on the urn the human and changeable versus the immortal and permanent, participation versus observation life versus art,Critics such as Sonia Si
39、kka conclude that the narrator, representative of Keats, is criticizing the Urn as he says that all it will ever need to know is that beauty is truth and truth beauty. This reading of the text suggests levels of both jealousy and disdain as the narrator admires the simplicity of the world depicted by the urn but finds it incapable of providing deeper meaning.,
