John Keats
Ode on a Grecian Urn
Unabridged
3 minutes
Some articles contain affiliate links (marked with an asterisk *). If you click on these links and purchase products, we will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Your support helps to keep this site running and to continue creating useful content. Thank you for your support!
The poem is one of several 'Great Odes of 1819', which includes 'Ode on Indolence', 'Ode on Melancholy', 'Ode to a Nightingale', and 'Ode to Psyche'. Keats found earlier forms of poetry unsatisfactory for his purpose, and the collection represented a new development of the ode form. He was inspired to write the poem after reading two articles by English artist and writer Benjamin Haydon. Keats was aware of other works on classical Greek art, and had first-hand exposure to the Elgin Marbles, all of which reinforced his belief that classical Greek art was idealistic and captured Greek virtues, which forms the basis of the poem.
Lismio