The Relationship Between Illusory Beauty and Cruel, Unpredictable Reality

Introduction

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” is among the legendary odes John Keats wrote. The narrator in "Oden on a Grecian Urn" conveys his feelings and outlook about the experience of an abstract world of art while comparing it to the reality of life, distress, and change. As such, the literary piece is an effort to engage with the exquisiteness of art and the natural surroundings, by examining a piece of earthenware from ancient Greece.

The Idealized World on the Urn

The main subject presented in the poem is the idealized world illustrated on a Grecian urn, a land not defined by the passage of the human time. The speaker desires to be a part of the eternal, faultless and gratifying realm. The narrator seeks to achieve this by creating a way to draw closer to that world by the power of imaginings. The poet’s language, “What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy,” depicts the emotional intensity of the sights he perceives (Keats 113). It is as if the narrator longs to take part in the scenes. The “Ode on a Grecian Urn” centers on the disharmony between the ‘ideal’ and the ‘real.’ The narrator then experiences that realm established through imagination. The speaker, thus, idealizes the art as signifying the ideal world which he longs to be in. In this literary piece, the two aspects of the eternal ‘ideal’ and the temporary ‘real’ are the two components of a deeper reality, the actuality of visionary experience. The pure, eternal and pleasant world of the Urn (the ideal) align against the harsh mortifying and excruciating effects of time. The speaker’s enthrallment with the immortality of art is accordingly corrected with the cognizance that the pottery is lifeless. As such, the narrator neither wanders in thoughts alone nor support practicality against truly creative art. Life recompenses for the incompleteness of art, while artwork accounts for the impermanence of lifetime.

The Immortality of Art and the Temporality of Life

As much as Keats contrasts the realms of reality and imagination, the immortality of art formed out of imaginings complements the temporal nature of life. The development of art and its recognition in the reflection of a higher quality complete the terrible realization of the temporality of life. The realities are of two forms as well, objective reality and the realm of imagination. For instance, from one perspective, the “Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,” as a person can kiss in real life (Keats 114). However, from a different viewpoint, the lover illustrated in the urn is advantaged that his beloved’s gorgeousness can never deteriorate as is evident in the actual world. For this reason, the speaker wishes that the reality of life were comparable to that of the imaginative art. The pottery's immortality could not be an outright ideal devoid of the consummation of love. Regardless, the temporary pleasure in life only increases the realization of impermanence by consummation itself. Additionally, the speaker who is fervently involved with the portrait of passion also has the unifying visualization that merges the abstract with the actual world by romanticizing the real.

Conclusion

In conclusion, in this poem, the poet begins by venerating, humanizing and eternalizing a real object. Therefore, the imaginative world first dissents with the real but is resolved ultimately by imagination and intuition. Overall, the poem explores the relationship between illusory beauty and the cruel, unpredictable reality of daily human experiences.

Work Cited

Keats, John. "Ode on a Grecian Urn."Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, Taylor and Hesse, 1820, pp. 113-116.