John Keats. 1795–1821

625. Ode on a Grecian Urn

THOU still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape	5
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?	10
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:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave	15
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!	20
Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearièd,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!	25
For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy'd,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.	30
Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea-shore,	35
Or mountain-built with 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 e'er return.	40
O Attic shape! fair attitude! with brede
Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
With forest branches and the trodden weed;
Thou, silent form! dost tease us out of thought
As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!	45
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'	50

John Keats. 1795–1821

628. Ode on Melancholy

NO, no! go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kist
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,	5
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.	10
But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,	15
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globèd peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.	20
She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight	25
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.	30

The two poems that I have chosen are “Ode on grecian Urn” and “Ode on Melancholy” by John Keats. I am going to analyse the connection between both poems since they deal with the concept of beauty.

First of all, as I mentioned before, one of the main ideas of the poem is beauty. It is linked with another concept such as truth or eternity. The reasoning is as follows:as long as the Grecian Urn is beautiful, it still lives on for us. Consequently, we can assume that Beauty is Eternity. At the same time, it is also referred by the poet the joy as he considers this beautiful urn to harbor the happiness in the sense that it is still able to make us feel very intensively those days when the Grecian Urn civilization lived. He evokes the happy time of life (“Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; and happy melodist, unwearied, for ever piping songs for ever new;…for ever warm and still to be joy’d) third stanza.

And it is at this point, where I establish a connection between the happiness and the melancholy. As the poet is bringing to our minds the happiness that is still present in the memory of the Urn, like a faint reflection of what it was in its best time, I can appreciate the melancholic tone (“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”) second stanza. Furthermore, it is because of this happiness detached from the Urn that we can feel melancholy of that better time in our soul (for ever panting, and forever young; all breathing human passion far above, that leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d, a burning forehead, and a parching tongue, third stanza).

Thus, it has become clear that the poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn” shares the main concept that “Ode on Melancholy” deals with, that is Melancholy.

On the other hand, in the poem “Ode on Melancholy” we can also find some evidences that guaranteee the connection between both poems.

The poet warns us about the presence of the melancholy behind the feelings that we would never consider so close to the sensation of melancholy. He talks about “Joy” as one of the feelings that hides Melancholy (“And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips bidding adieu”, third stanza of “Ode on melancholy”). Obviously, this possessive “his” refers to Joy, which is being personified by the poet. All the feelings are being personified.

The pleasure, is another of the feelings that hides melancholy according to the poet (“and aching Pleasure nigh, turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips: ay, in the very temple of Delight, veil’d Melancholy has her sovran shrine” third stanza).

But, it is Beauty where we are going to find the connection: (“She dwells with Beauty- Beauty that must die” third stanza). This verse is the clue to understanding the parallelism between Beauty and Melancholy, and consequently, the parallelism between the two poems by John Keats.

As a conclusion, this coincidence has a clear reason: we feel melancholy when observing the urn because it is beautiful, and because of this, eternal. And melancholy lies in beauty, as it does in more feelings that make our soul move from happiness to sadness just in a second.

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