Though both the poems “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” and “Ode to a Grecian Urn” address a similar sort of tension surrounding the idea of immortality as evoked by sculpture, Keats experiences different emotional reactions and reaches conclusions within each work. In “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” Keats envies the immortal Gods depicted in sculpture as his health is weaning and laments his own temporality. Yet thought the figures are representing beings who transcend mortality, the stone of which they are wrought betrays the effects of time (as presumably they are worn and darkened). This paradox prompts an internal struggle as Keats seemingly wonders whether anything is immortal (and perhaps implying anxieties that, similarly to the sculptures, his own art is not immortal). Again we see a tension between two portrayals of immortality in a different medium of physical art in ode to the “Grecian Urn.” The figures portrayed on the urn both exist outside of time yet remain frozen in it. Though Keats argues that this allows them to maintain the felicity of the season and hold on to their youthful beauty, they must bear the pain of considering the consummation of their passion perpetually dangled just outside their grasp.
This idea of freezing time is definitely something essential that is seen in many of Keats' poems. I particularly think this line from the second stanza of "Ode to a Grecian Urn" is interesting: "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter." In this way, Keats emphasizes the importance of imagination; that the anticipation of something is always better than the thing itself, and that once something is over, all one has is the memory. The pursuit of something is always more exciting than the result. In this way he envies the figures on the urn, caught in that blissful moment of time before the kiss, forever caught in the beauty of youth.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is interesting that you say in "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles" that he is jealous of the Immortal gods themselves. While this could very well be true, I interpreted it as that he is jealous of the actual statue, that its life will forever be preserved in stone and not fade away like humans. I do agree with the fact that he is questioning the immortality of his own art in this piece as well.
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