Citazioni da Ode su un’urna greca

9 citazioni celebri da Ode on a Grecian Urn (1819) di John Keats, parola per parola, con il significato e la provenienza di ciascuna.

2 min di lettura · 50 righe

1. 1

   Thou still unravish’d bride of quietness,
   Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,

   Significato: The poet addresses the urn as an untouched object preserved by silence and the slow passage of time.

   The poetStrofa 1, versi da 1 a 2Copia
2. 2

   Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
   A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:

   Significato: The urn tells a vivid story through its rural scenes, potentially more beautifully than poetry can.

   The poetStrofa 1, versi da 3 a 4Copia
3. 3

   Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
   Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;

   Significato: Imagined music seems sweeter than actual music because the imagination can make it perfect.

   The poetStrofa 2, versi da 11 a 12Copia
4. 4

   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!

   Significato: The painted lover can never complete his kiss, but his desire and his beloved’s beauty will never fade.

   The poetStrofa 2, versi da 17 a 20Copia

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5. 5

   Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
   Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;

   Significato: The trees pictured on the urn remain permanently in spring, untouched by seasonal loss.

   The poetStrofa 3, versi da 21 a 22Copia
6. 6

   More happy love! more happy, happy love!
   For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,
   For ever panting, and for ever young;

   Significato: Love preserved in art stays forever youthful and expectant, without reaching fulfillment.

   The poetStrofa 3, versi da 25 a 27Copia
7. 7

   And, little town, thy streets for evermore
   Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
   Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.

   Significato: The imagined town remains forever empty because the figures depicted leaving it can never move or return.

   The poetStrofa 4, versi da 38 a 40Copia
8. 8

   Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought
   As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

   Significato: The urn’s silent, frozen world challenges ordinary understanding, much as eternity does.

   The poetStrofa 5, versi da 44 a 45Copia
9. 9

   “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,”—that is all
   Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.

   Significato: The closing statement presents beauty and truth as inseparable and suggests that recognizing their unity is enough.

   The urn, as imagined by the poetStrofa 5, versi da 49 a 50Copia

Domande su queste citazioni

What does Keats mean when he says unheard melodies are sweeter?

The urn’s musicians produce no actual sound, so viewers imagine their music. That imagined music escapes the imperfections and limits of real performance.

Who speaks the final lines of Ode on a Grecian Urn?

The poet introduces the urn as speaking, but the extent of its speech is debated. Some readers assign both final lines to the urn; others hear the poet taking over partway through.