Imagery in Keats’ ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’

     Write an essay on the use of imagery in Keats’ ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’

Johan Keats, (1795-1821) a great word painter of Romantic era, in “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, conveys his philosophy about art, beauty and life to the readers with colourful and intense imagery. So the poem is notable for its profoundly persuasive imagery taken from nature. Now we are going to discuss it in our following discussion.  

        

  Before entering into the discussion, we are to know what the imagery is. Imagery is the collective form of image and suggests the total picture produced by the images. The word image has derived from the Latin word ‘imago’ which means ‘likeness’. An image is, therefore, likeness of something. In other words, it is basically the picture of a particular thing. In literature, pictures are drawn with words. So Spurgeon defines it as ‘picture in words’. Let us now cast our eyes over various images which he uses in the poem.

At the very beginning of the poem, Keats uses an excellent image by a metaphor to reveal the exact description of the ‘Urn’ which he has seen in the British Museum.  

        “Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,”

Just after reading this ‘unrevised bride’ a picture of “a beautiful bride sitting and waiting for her groom” is depicted in our mind. The poet uses the image to state the beauty and the purity of the Urn.

We find another image indicating the Urn:

“Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
  A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:”  

It means that, the Urn can express tales with the depiction on its surface better than the historian can do with their writings.

“leaf-fringed legend” is also an image which indicates that the Urn is decorated with various scenes especially with trees and woods. As the poet states:

    “What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape”

Again, at the end of first stanza, the poet creates some images for the picture on the Urn with some rhetorical question which are vivid and passionate.

“What men or gods are these? what maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? 

There is another image of a lover stooping to kiss his beloved.

“Bold lover, never, never cast thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal.”
 

Seeing the boughs full of leaves and melodist piper songs, Keats thinks that the spring of the boughs will be and the melodist will pipe songs forever, but he himself is suffering the distress, misery and frustration and will also suffer. As narrates the poet:                                                                   

“Ah happy, happy boughs! That cannot shed
Your leaves, moreover bid the spring adieu
And happy melodist unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;”

In another image, a continuing vivid picture is depicted in our mind. There is a procession going toward a place of worship led by an unknown mysterious priest who leads a young calf for the sacrifice.  The calf of up-raised head is decorated with garlands of flowers. As the poet describes:

“Who are these coming to the sacrifice?To what green altar, O mysterious priest.” 

There is another image of an empty town of situated by a river or a sea shore or a mountain. In a chaste morning there is no soul to tell why the streets are silent, because all have gone to a distant alter to worship. Keats says:

“What little town by the river or sea shore,Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,”

However the silence of the town will be forever, because it is an art or an imagination, not reality.

At the last stanza of the poem, the poet addresses the Urn fair attitude that contains marble men and over-excited maidens and cold pastoral. These are the excellent images which the poet uses in the poem to describe the magnificence of the urn.   

We must conclude our discussion saying that, John Keats very expertly exploits imagery to utter his inner grief and agony in the poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn”. So he can rightly be considered as the master of imagery of the   Romantic period in English literature.  

This paper is prepared for you by Talim Enam, BA (Hons), MA in English.

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