Page 305 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes Not only is the urn a better storyteller than the poet, but the musicians in the illustration have
sweeter melodies than the poet. The poet then tries to listen to the music played by the people in the
image. That’s right: even though he can’t hear the music with his ears, he’s trying to listen to it with
his “spirit.” He looks at the illustration of a young guy who is playing a song under a tree. Because
pictures don’t change, the man will be playing his song as long as the urn survives, and the tree will
always be full and green.
Then the speaker addresses one of the guys who is chasing a maiden, and he offers some advice:
“You’re never going to make out with that girl, because you’re in a picture, and pictures don’t
change, but don’t worry – at least you’ll always be in love with her, because you’re in a picture, and
pictures don’t change.”
The speaker thinks about how happy the trees must be to keep all their leaves forever. It’s always
springtime in the world of the urn, and every song sounds fresh and new. Then he starts talking
about love and repeats the word “happy” a bunch of times. He is jealous of the lovers on the urn,
because they will always be lusting after each other. He thinks the best part of being in love is trying
to get your lover to hook up with you, and not the part that follows. We’re starting to think that the
speaker needs a cold shower.

The word “panting” threatens to send the poem careening into X-rated territory.

Things were getting a bit steamy, but now the speaker has moved to a different section of the urn.
He’s looking at an illustration of an animal sacrifice. This is pretty much the cold shower he needed.
A priest is leading a cow to be sacrificed. People have come from a nearby town to watch. The
speaker imagines that it’s a holy day, so the town has been emptied out for the sacrifice. The town
will always be empty, because it’s a picture, and pictures don’t change.
The speaker starts freaking out a bit. He’s basically yelling at the urn now. Whereas before he was
really excited about the idea of living in the eternal world of the illustrations, now he’s not so sure.
Something about it seems “cold” to him. He thinks about how, when everyone he knows is dead,
the urn will still be around, telling its story to future generations. The urn is a teacher and friend to
mankind. It repeats the same lesson to every generation: that truth and beauty are the same thing,
and this knowledge is all we need to make it through life.

Stanza I Summary

Line 1
Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
Keats talks to the urn as if it were a beautiful woman, like many people do nowadays with their
cars. He calls her the “unravish’d bride of quietness,” which, if taken literally, would mean that the
urn is married to a guy named Quietness. But urns can’t get married, so he probably just means a
really old pot and quietness go hand in hand. Imagine the speaker standing in some big, empty
room of a museum, and it’s easy to see where the quietness thing comes from.
What about “still unravish’d”? It might not seem like it on the surface, but this is a sexy poem. The
word “ravish” means to take or carry away something by force, and, more directly, it means to have
violent, passionate sex with someone. The writers of bodice-ripper romance novels love the word
“ravish.”
But this urn hasn’t been ravished – yet. Even though “she” is married to quietness, they haven’t
consummated the marriage by having sex. It looks youthful and pure, even though it’s really old.
If you think the whole sex-and-marriage metaphor for a pot doesn’t make much sense, you’re not
alone. But you have to admit that it sounds cool. If you want to boil the first line down to something
very simple, he’s saying that the urn has lived its life in “quietness,” in a museum or buried in some
Greek ruins, but it’s still in great condition and hasn’t suffered any major damage.

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