I want this post to focus solely on Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn:
1. What is this urn all about?
2. Where does he get these crazy ideas from?
3. What the heck is with that last line? Beauty is truth, truth beauty? I mean, in that case, the most beautiful thing in the world is a truthful circle.
Happy Thinking,
Mr. B
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Okay, so I believe that the whole poem is basically this man telling us about how beautiful he thinks this urn is. I mean, he keeps asking questions, listing what he can't necessarily do with it, and it seems like he's trying to figure out how it was made, by who, and what it went through. His imagination seems to wonder and think of all these possible adventures this urn is, but it is just a typical urn. There's a line in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' that says "The best in this kind are but shadows; and the worst are no worse, if imagination amend them." which, to me, relates to this because this man is imagining everything this urn went through and that made it beautiful to him. I think truth is self-evident, and we think individually that certain things are true, and if our imagination leaks into our truths, we can make ourselves believe that something is just so beautiful, and that's what I think Keats is talking about.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if urns generally have pictures on them, but I think this one does. It seems like Keats just sat down with an urn in front of him, describing the pictures he saw as if he was watching what was going on. There's one animated movie (maybe The Emperor's New Groove) that has an urn or a cup or something at the beginning with pictures all over it that come to life during a song (or at least that is how I remember it). That's what I think of when I read Keats's poem; each stanza is the next picture coming to life. If this is the case, maybe the last line is just a line Keats wanted to include in a poem, but didn't know how to revolve an entire poem around that. Instead he wrote it into the poem as if someone was saying it to their friend. I think he's trying to say that if something is truly beautiful, everyone can see it's beauty. I think of beauty more as an opinion, but maybe the kind of beauty he is talking about is unquestionable.
ReplyDeleteI think Keats is not just describing the urn itself but also all the history and characters that adorn it. It seems to me like he can almost look through the urn at everything it represents.
ReplyDeleteThe last line seems really straightforward to me... Truth is beautiful, and everything beautiful is truthful. Here Keats has actually defined beauty and truth and turned two things which are normally an opinion into fact. Granted, they are defined in terms of each other, but it is still a very eloquent way of defining two subjective terms.
Ok. So I had to read the poem again to get a good feeling of what it was talking about. I also researched what an "urn" is and what embellishments it may or may not have. In the first stanza the urn is described and being inquired by the narrator. He/she admires and questions the tales behind the embellishments and carved pictures on the urn (which was found in cemeteries as a symbol of immortality). Maybe the stories are being admired because people wonder what their origins were and they live forever in mistery...
ReplyDeleteThat last line has really got me confused. When Mr. Bruno said it was one of the most famous poetic lines I was pretty impressed. But I have absolutely no idea what it is saying! Beauty is something that means something different to everyone and for it to be true it has to be pure and factual. Hmm.. confusing.
Truth beauty- something that is very hard to imagine. The truth is hard to imagine because we never know. One day all that we know about ourselves, other people, and this world can change in an instant and if everyone agrees it is a new truth. I don't know at all. But I tried. :)
Aida your post made me think about something. You said that beauty is something that means something different to everyone, but maybe that's what makes it universal. Beauty cannot be defined, and is special to every person; and truth can be known but it can't be fully understood because it relies on the individial. What if Keats it trying to say that beauty and truth can be understood but is truely something that every individual holds unique and that is what makes it so amazing is that it is what makes the world so great.
ReplyDeleteAnother thought I had was the last two lines could be referring to heaven. When we die and go to heaven isn't the world's Truth supposed to be revealed to us, and heavens beauty unmatched by anything. What if Keats is saying that in the end, that death leads to Truth which sheds beauty that we could never see on life and that the beauty of heaven is the Truth about the world or universe?
Maryssa you are a beast because you and me think alike. I imagined the last line as meaning that on Earth all we need to understand is the concept that we don't understand and never truly will until we die. Either we will live in a endless sleep of darkness or come across a spiritual entity/God that will unravel the secrets of the universe for us. Beauty and Truth contradict each other because beauty is only from perspective and truth is an unquestionable reality that nobody can deny. Keats was giving an underlying message that when the "final Truth" is revealed to us it will be a beautiful event and that is when these two words will connect as one.
ReplyDeleteBeauty is truth, truth beauty. I've heard that so many times and never really grasped it. Thinking about it now, I still feel like I'll never really know exactly what I'm supposed to get from it. However poetry's purpose is to have the reader experience something, so what exactly does Keats want us to experience from this poem about an urn?! Well, I think maybe he feels that beauty is determined by your own personal standards and beliefs. Maybe a painting is beautiful to me, and a frog is beautiful to you. But, because beauty is personally defined and is definitely a faanntassticc thing to have in life since it creates such like awe, happiness and inspiration, I think that the truth is also definted personally. I mean, you can tell a lie and make others perceive it to be the truth, so how are you to know I lied to you if you think it's the truth? So, then what exactly is the truth? Is it only beauty since beauty = truth, truth = beauty? Basically what I'm trying to say is.. it depends because you can never have an absolute in life. There are just too many exceptions and I think that Keats crazy amazing famous quote is brilliant but I can't get it. I think that it's just so complex and "deep" that, like freaking ALLLLLLLL of literature, it can be interpreted in so many different ways that it is rediculous.
ReplyDeletebrittany, ridiculous, but necessary, don't you agree? Because of Keats' phrase about beauty and truth, which by the way has been in great dispute for YEARS, we think about what each of those things mean independently, and what they mean together. Yes, much of literature is confusing, even to an educated mind, but I think it's all a good kind of confusion. That's what's wrong with our society today, everyone expects everything to be handed to them, what something means, how we can achieve it, ect. the whole package. But isn't life about the journey, not where it takes you? So what if you've "been" a bunch of places if you don't even know how you got there, so what if someone just stuck you there? IT HAS NO MEANING. So take a journey, think about truth, think about beauty, and think about how they work together. You may not reach some sort of epiphany today, but who knows, maybe one day you will. Maybe one day you will be the next Keats in the sense that you find an answer to this forever-disputed phrase. You won't get there unless you try.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, I think that beauty is truth and vice versa because those are two very sacred things to our society. To me beauty describes something that is awe-striking, something that is unexplainable, but still is what it is, like nature. How many natural phenomenons or miracles even are we able to justify or explain? Not many, but that does not take away from their beauty. In terms of truth, well truth itself is beautiful because if something is truthful, then there is nothing that contradicts it that still holds the same value. Just think about what someone's honesty means in the real world, in every day experiences. The truth usually counts for a whole lot more than anything, even money. Sometimes people just want to know the truth, nothing more. It's sacred.
Tyler you should be a speaker for a large corporation some day because you make some pretty convincing arguments. To answer the third question, Beauty is truth, truth beauty, beauty is something pure and can not be stained and truth is something that is pure just like beauty. Keats might also be trying to connect these two thoughts into one and that whenever we say something is beautiful its the truth and whenever we are truthful it is using a form of beauty.
ReplyDeleteI've read this poem like three times, and I've read through these poets, and I still cannot make heads or tails of it. I mean obviously it has to do with beauty, and this urn, but honestly? I have to say that I agree with Chris, if I have to say anything at all. Beauty is something that is pure and so is truth (at least that's how I see it), but maybe not. Cause once I say that I beauty is pure my minds goes back to that short story about how destruction is creation, or whatever the quote was. Creation is a beautiful things is it not? So what does this mean? I just can't figure it out.
ReplyDeleteI think that truth and beauty are two very personal and perspective words. Everybody has thier own ideas about what is beautiful. At the same time, everybody also has their own ideas about what is true. If we all had the same ideas about that I think the world would be a pretty boring place. So, what I make of it is that there is beauty in the many truths we have about the world. I do believe as well, that we are all unified under one eternal being and that in the end we will all find the real truth and beauty of God and nothing else will matter. As human beings though, I think there is beauty in the diversity of truths in beauty in the world, and think it's what we are intended to do, and that is to define our own personal truths and find our own beauty in the world.
ReplyDeleteBeauty is truth. Truth is beauty. They are intertwined. One is necessary to reveal the other. However, I think that the truth isn't always so beautiful. The truth about the world is poverty, death, loss, separation, need, hunger, etc. Maybe I just don't agree that truth is beautiful. I suppose a woman who is honest and true would be considered beautiful, and virtuous. I think there's beautiful things in the world, but the TRUTH HURTS. It is important to realize that life is more than analyzing the beauty of something. Maybe we're supposed to interpret this poem as encouragement to make our own beauty out of the harsh truths of life?
ReplyDeleteI was thinking earlier on what the phrase beauty is truth might mean. In class we had said that beauty isn't beauty until it is given away. So if beauty isn't given away then no one would know what the truth of beauty is. Do you understand what I am trying to say? What Maryssa, Aida and many other people touched on before, beauty is unique to that person as is truth. People can have a different vision of both in their mind. So no one can really know or understand what either is until they have been given away to somebody else. If you hide the truth then it isn't the truth it is a lie. If you hide beauty then it isn't beauty it is ugly or a beast. In order for something to be true you have to say it is and believe it is. In order for something to be beautiful you have to say it and believe it is. I hope all of this made sense.
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