Imagery on Ode on Melancholy

Imagery on Ode on Melancholy

Task One - THE LYRIC POEM

What's lyric poetry:

• a brief poem with one speaker (not necessarily the poet) 
• expresses thoughts and feelings
• it can be an elegy, a dramatic monologue or an ode
• often used in short songs or in brief TV commercials
• they're repetitive and several images are used, so that they stay in our memory 

Task Two - MELANCHOLY

How melancholic differs from sadness: Melancholy is beyond sad: as a noun or an adjective, it's a word for the gloomiest of spirits.

Task Three - READING THE POEM

No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist

       Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;

Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd

       By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;

               Make not your rosary of yew-berries,

       Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be

               Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl

A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;

       For shade to shade will come too drowsily,

               And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.

But when the melancholy fit shall fall

       Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,

That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,

       And hides the green hill in an April shroud;

Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,

       Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,

               Or on the wealth of globed peonies;

Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,

       Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,

               And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.

She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;

       And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips

Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,

       Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:

Ay, in the very temple of Delight

       Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,

               Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue

       Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine;

His soul shalt taste the sadness of her might,

               And be among her cloudy trophies hung.

Notes on "Ode on Melancholy":

Stanza 1:

•  The first stanza is telling the reader what they shouldn't do when they feel melancholic.
•  Prosperine: Authors from the Romantic period are obsessed with myths from Ancient Greece.

Stanza 2:

•  Nature is constantly used to express feelings, as it's one of the main characteristic of Romanticism. Words as "cloud", "flowers", "green hill", "rose", "salt sand-wave", "peonies" are used which are clear images of nature.
•  "Weeping cloud": metaphor for rain.
•  "And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes": it's an assonance, which is the repetiton of vocal sounds in the words "feed", "deep" and "peerless". There is also a sibilance in "peerless eyes", as it's the repetition of "s" sounds. 

Stanza 3:

•  "aching Pleasure" is an oxymoron. 

Task Four - EXPLORING IMAGES

Stanza 1:

“By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine”

It's an allusion to Greek Mythology. Romantic poets were obsessed with Greek Mythology because of its mystery and constant relation to nature. In “Ode on a Grecian Urn” there is also a reference to Greek Mythology.

“And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul”

There is an oxymoron in the words “wakeful anguish” because of the clear opposition between the meanings of these two words. “Wakeful” represents something new, something pure and refreshing. On the other hand, “anguish” represents a dark feeling of hatred and melancholy. These two words are combined, giving emphasis on the apparition of melancholy in a person’s life.

Stanza 2: 

“Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud”

Melancholy falls into our lives like rain from the sky, unexpectedly. Nature is once again used to express the poet’s feelings. This is one of the main characteristics of romanticism. 

“And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes”

It's a repetition of vocal sounds, called an assonance, which draws the reader’s attention to the poem and its significance. There is also a repetition of the “s” sound, which is called sibilance. This emphasis's on these certain sounds creates a hypnotic effect such as the one the “peerless eyes” has upon us. 

Stanza 3: 

“Whose hand is ever at his lips”

What the poet wants to express is that whenever we experience joy in life, we are conscious that it's not going to last, and it is going to leave soon. Joy will not last for a long time in our lives, melancholy is always going to appear. The fact that the woman’s hand is never at the man’s lips represents the impossibility of actually experiencing joy. 

“She dwells with Beauty – Beauty that must die”

There is a repetition of the word “beauty”, which emphasizes the meaning of this word, which can be related to the joy in our life. The fact that it states that “beauty must die” also represents that everything that is beautiful in life or that gives us a certain feeling of happiness will eventually die or fade from our lives, being replaced by melancholy. 

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Ode on a Grecian Urn

Thou still unravished bride of quietness,

Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,

Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:

What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape

Of deities or mortals, or of both,

In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? 

What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? 

What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard 

Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; 

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endeared,

Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:

Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave

Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;

Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,

Though winning near the goal — yet, do not grieve;

She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,

Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed 

Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;

And, happy melodist, unwearied,

Forever piping songs forever new; 

More happy love! more happy, happy love! 

Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,

Forever panting, and forever young;

All breathing human passion far above,

That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed,

A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?

To what green altar, O mysterious priest,

Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,

And all her silken flanks with garlands dressed? 

What little town by river or sea shore,

Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,

Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?

And, little town, thy streets for evermore

Will silent be; and not a soul to tell 

Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

Reminder: What is an ode?

• The ode has always been lengthy and talks about a subject in particular. 
• It's very elaborated in its diction and style, and it follows a stanzaic structure. 
• Two classical types of odes: Greek and Roman.
• Describes an outer natural scene.
• It may be focused on a private problem or a universal situation.
• It might be about a resolution or decision, which creates a new perspective by the intervening meditation.

Making of the urn: (Words highlighted in the poem are images which helped us design the urn)

Things to consider in the making of the urn (tensions and conflicts):

• Frozen images on the urn vs the dynamic life portrayed
• Human/changeable vs the immortal/permanent
• Participation vs observation
• Life vs art

Understanding Ode on A Grecian Urn

Understanding Ode on a Grecian Urn

Task 1:

a) There are several elements in the poem, which I could understand them clearly after designing the urn. It's a way to represent visually what is written. For instance, now I can see the images and the synesthesia physically and understand them correctly, especially the one of the lovers and the fact that he cannot kiss her as described in "Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss". 

   Furthermore, I could understand the language better as I had to look down and select certain words and then apply them to our urn. 

  Sounds were also clearer once we made the urn, as the "unheard" melodies, understanding this paradox in a precise way. 

   b) There are some questions that I asked myself after making the urn. For example, I wonder how would Keats’ make his own urn after writing "Ode on a Grecian Urn"? Or how did he imagined it? Would he include the same elements as we did? 

  Also, was he reflecting his existence when talking about death in "When old age shall this generation waste"? We can assume this as it talks about the destruction of a new generation. 

c) Two of the most important skills that we needed in the making of the urn were artistic and comprehension skills as we had to understand the poem, then select certain words from it and then apply them creatively to the urn. 

Task 2:

Notes:

• The poem presents a man talking and looking down to an urn, describing its shape and decorations. 
•    The four last verses of the first stanza are questions, which are stimulated by Keats’ imagination as "What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?" Imagination is the most powerful skill or Romanticism. Romantics believed that the world behaves because of the imagination of people. 
•    The last two verses of the third stanza show how life is change and how physical things can change as "burning forehead" and "a parching tongue".
•    Close to the end, Keats has a new perspective created by the meditation of the urn. 

Stanza One: 

Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,

       Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,

Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

       A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:

What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape

       Of deities or mortals, or of both,

               In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?

       What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?

What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

               What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Why is the urn compared to a " still unravish'd bride"?

• "still" has two meanings - "motionless" or "remaining in time". Time and motion are two concepts that the poem explores throughout.
• "unravish'd" means unspoiled - a bride yet to lose her virginity; similarly, the urn and the scenes it represents are "unspoiled" by the passage of time.

Explain the term "sylvan historian"(l.3)

• The urn is a "Sylvan historian" because it records scenes from a culture lived long ago (ancient greeks); and because it is bordered with leaves, as well as having scenes of the countryside within.
• Is it paradoxical that the urn, a "bride of quietness", can tell its stories "more sweetly than our rhyme" (meaning the poem itself)?
• The gentleness of the term "sylvan historian" and his "flowery tale" told "sweetly" do not prepare us for the wild sexuality of lines 8-10. (Another contrast!)

What change in viewpoint occurs in lines 8-10?

• The short questions and frequent repetitions inject pace into the poem. Notice how the speaker moves from contemplative observer to emotionally-involved participant with these breathless questions. (We have another contrast - that of the participant vs the observer). You may want to think about how I develop this idea throughout, and what it might suggest about the audience's relationship with "Art" in general...

Stanza two:

In lines 1-4 I contrast the ideal (in art, love, and nature) and the real - the "heard melodies"; which does my speaker seem to prefer at this point? How can you tell?

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard

       Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;

Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,

       Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:

      In these verses, the reader prefers the unreal rather than the real. Art, nature and love are portrayed precisely in this stanza, as the sound of the "soft" melodies from the pipes is combined with the beauty of nature. The music reaches the readers as a "sweet" melody. The ideal is represented with the words "spirit" and "endear'd". At the beginning, the reader may think that the urn is something empty that can't be given any interpretation. However, it ends up representing several themes as life and death.
     Instead, the reality of the poem is seen as something too superficial or without any meaning nor feelings. The urn may be seen as something material, which is definitely not one of the aims of Romanticism. 

Is the idea of unheard pipes an oxymoron?

    Oxymoron is a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect. The words "unheard pipes" is a clear example of an oxymoron as it contrasts the idea of ideal versus reality. It describes a musical instrument, which would normally emit sound, as something silent. This oxymoron reflects the speaker's ambivalence towards what he feels. 

In lines 5-10 we begin to sense a negative undercurrent to the ideal, to frozen time. How do I use language to help convey this negativity?

Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave

       Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;

               Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,

Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve;

       She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,

               For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

      The second stanza of the poem portrays a sense of a negative atmosphere to the ideal, to frozen time, mainly expressed in the language used. 
      The poet starts to portray the adversity of love in his life and the frustration he feels. The words "canst not", and the repetition of the word "never" help to support this idea, the things that never happened in his life and will possibly never happen in a future life. The phrase "Never canst thou kiss" reflects this idea, that he cannot kiss her as he is frozen in time. 
     The idea of the "sweetly" "flowery tale" expressed in the first stanza is not present in this stanza anymore.
    The man lying "beneath the trees" reflects immortality as his music is "unheard", therefore it's not affected by the passing of time, which appears to be frozen.