Page 67 - 100 Best Loved Poems - Teaching Unit

“Ode on a Grecian Urn”
by John Keats, pages 45-46

Vocabulary
citadel – fortress
dales – vales
timbrels – small hand drums
pious – devout
brede – embroidery

1. The poem opens with a series of comparisons between the urn and random types of people. The
comparison between the non-living urn and the very much alive people is known as what?

The comparisons come in the form of metaphors, but the attribution of living qualities to the urn is
known as personification.

2. What is the first picture that the speaker sees on the urn?

The speaker sees a picture of men chasing women and asks what the reason could be.

3. Why are the melodies played by the piper in the urn’s second picture superior to those played by
actual, living pipers?

The melodies played in the picture, though silent, are unaffected by time and are unconstrained in
meaning.

4. Why, according to the speaker, will the town of the fourth stanza be silent “evermore”?

The town will be silent because its citizens, as depicted in the picture on the urn, have fled it and
are frozen in time in the picture.

5. How does the speaker engage, interact, or react to each picture on the urn? Do his responses
change? Why?

The speaker tries to ask questions of the urn with the first picture, but seeing how the urn cannot
answer him, he abandons the line of questioning. With the second picture, the speaker tries to
imagine what the experience of the characters on the urn must be like, trying hard to identify with
them. His attempts, though, remind him of his own life and how he is tied to his experiences, so he
abandons this line of interaction. Finally, with the third picture, the speaker tries to think about the
characters as though they are experiencing time. His theory gives the picture an origin and
destination; but then, unable to know if the journey is completed, he becomes captivated by the
static nature of the urn. His responses show a progression in his identification with art.

6. Who speaks the poem’s final line, “that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”?

Answers may vary. This question has been debated by critics since the poem’s first publication. If
the speaker is the speaker of the poem, the line signifies that he understands the limits of art. If the
speaker is the urn, then perhaps art shows that there is no limitation to life. The speaker may also
be directly addressing the urn itself or the reader.

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