Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn: A Catch 22 Bridget Walsh John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn is an emotive fifty-line poem

that aims to propagate the value of timeless significance by interpreting the static art present on the face of a Grecian urn. In doing so, the poem marginalizes the temporal aspects of human life. However, after a careful deconstruction of the text, the marginalized concepts become centric. Meaning becomes increasingly enigmatic and begins to slide as paradox and conflicting fragments confront the reader, leading to aporia. The poem becomes independent of its author as the reader is left without the closure or definition that has come to be expected---forcing an arrival at a unique interpretation each time. The subject of the poem, the urn itself, is privileged over the author (Keats) within the first stanza as it can express/ A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: Here it is evident that the urn is able to transcend beyond the confines of language, whereas Keats is forced to express himself through prose. The urn, a Sylvan historian, is material and therefore not bound by the temporal changes of language or to a specific time period. Unlike a human voice (such as Keats) that can only speak to what is immediately present. This is further exemplified in the second stanza when Keats claims, 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 Again the unheard melodies of the urn are privileged because they speak to the more endeared spirit whereas heard melodies of the physical world are merely interpreted by the sensual ear. The eternal internal human condition can only be truly understood from a vantage point free from the constraints of time. As a result, the urn has the ability to tease us out of thought/ As does eternity Young lovers on the face of the urn are similarly extolled for possessing a timeless quality as Keats writes, Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou cannot leave/ For ever will thou love, and she be fair! The couple is never required to confront death or aging and is therefore emancipated, existing outside time forever. It is clear that ephemeral human passions are insignificant when compared to the timeless wisdom of the immortal urn.

Upon further analysis however, it is clear that the only way an urn can express something is through human interpretation. It is not until Keats writes about the urn that it is able to speak; therefore it cannot express anything sweeter than his rhyme. Moreover, as a corporeal historian the urn relays stories, but can also break; it is not, as Keats would like to believe, everlasting. When Keats writes a poem communicating the urns message that Beauty is truth, truth beauty he in fact conveys sentiment much more permanently. It would appear that Keats is in fact central, rather than peripheral, if we are to understand anything of the urn. Initially the statement seems to support timeless triumph but in fact is selfundermining; the word express can be placed sous rature. Similarly the glorified lovers cannot in fact love each other forever as Keats states, never, never can thou kiss The pair can never experience anything more, can never deliver affection or engage in amorous activities. They will love each other both forever and never, as they cannot ever fulfill their love or destroy it. In actuality they are frozen and stuck in time rather than liberated from it. This undercurrent of paradoxical turmoil extends beyond the lovers as well. The privileged urn is not merely an object devoid of life, but an object that carries human ashes and with that connotations and thoughts of death. However, although Keats has granted the urn an elevated status within the poem, he represses imagery associated with death. In the third stanza the trees on the urn are praised because they will never bid the Spring adieu; The evocation of Spring brings to mind images of growth and life. Likewise the happy melodist, unwearied, is applauded because he will be For ever piping songs for ever new; Keats reiterates his praise for a state of perpetual wakefulness and scorns the fatigue felt by human passion which leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloyed Keats appears to be centering life over death even though death is the ultimate state of timelessness which he has previously sought to privilege. Yet again the poem has deconstructed itself into a state of dissolution. The urn is always and already both timeless and temporary, both life-like and dead. The corollary of a deconstruction of a text or ideal is the production of new understanding. Although human beings strive to affix meaning and look for the rules for living in a fundamentally uncertain world, we should relish in the thought that understanding is not finite. Differance is invariably present in everything,

yet it serves to diversify our thoughts keeping our minds open. By recognizing the center and thus the critical role the of the peripheral, norms can be challenged and rules can begin to bend. To quote philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche greater sense of individuality can be realized when we embrace that There are no facts, only interpretations.