Cody AP Blog

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats is a very unique poem that has to do with art and nature. Along with the art and mainly the nature that occurs in this poem there is also an opposite theme. Many things in this poem have opposites including the changeab;e aspect to the permanent aspect and also the nature vs. art. Another thing I learned was how this poem related to the beauty of life, but it goes into more detail. For example it talks about how when she is frozen her beauty will never leave compared to the mortal love that is not permanent and won’ t last forever. “She cannot fade” and “human passion” are examples. Other things that I researched had to deal with the archaic language in this poem. Words such as bliss, piping, timbrel, and ditties just to name a few, had very interesting meanings. Tambourine for timbrel, happiness for bliss, piping having to do with music, and songs/poems for ditties. Those were all relative but just goes to show how old this poem really is. After looking at the diction I did a little background check on the author and saw that he was a romantic poet who lived a short life. His short life was ironic because in the poem he talked about the nature of immortality and mortality. It seems like he almost wanted to believe his statement of how beautiful life was so he mentioned it throughout the poem.