Example research essay topic: Ode On A Grecian Urn Rhyme Scheme - 897 words

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John Keats brilliantly uses poetic form and descriptive language to attempt to evoke interest in an inherently uninteresting subject, as well as support a hidden agenda, with his poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn. The three primary tools Keats uses, from which we can analyze his strategy, are the title of the poem, diction conforming to rhyme scheme, and literary devices. The title of the poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn seems at first innocuous and meaningless, but when analyzed at greater depth, sinister meaning becomes evident. Each word in the title has meaning.

First, we see that he used the word Ode in the title, blatantly stating the poetic form of his work. This makes assumptions about the audience, the first of which being that they are too ignorant to discern for themselves the poetic form of the poem. The second reason for the word Ode in the title is to make firm in the readers mind that the poem will praise the urn as its primary function. The next word, on, is an odd choice for the title.

It would make more sense to use the word to (Ode to a Grecian Urn); Keats wanted to tie the title to the final two lines, that the true ode (the poetry) is actually ON the Grecian Urn. Perhaps he intended this as a sort of double meaning to his poem, it would come as little surprise from such an odd thinker as he. The third word, a, serves an obvious meaning: to establish that there is only one of these Urns, perhaps cementing the uniqueness of the Urn. The fourth word comes as a surprise as well- why did he not simply use the adjective Greek? In the Websters New World Dictionary, Greek is defined as of ancient or modern Greece, its people, language or culture, whereas Grecian is defined as 1) a Greek 2) a scholar of Greek. The word Grecian is obviously not an adjective, merely a noun, and as such makes the sentence incomprehensible to standard conventions of English.

Enter adjectivizing. This practice occurs once writers run out of good adjectives; they take perfectly elf nouns and make those hippopotamus nouns into adjective nouns. This works with varying as well. In the previous sentence, the noun verb was versed.

Either Keats was an ignoramus who thought Grecian was an adjective, or he did it on purpose. The final word, Urn, shows the reader that Keats is far too wise to think it of things as pots or jugs. No! says Keats, they are urns. Certainly, readers worldwide thank him for this distinction. Keats rhyme scheme seems to mimic that of many traditional forms, he uses critical points in the poem to emphasize the rhyme.

Observe that in line 19, Keats ends the line with bliss to rhyme with kiss. The word bliss contains an ambiguous reference to something never mentioned in the poem. Theoretically, this is a reference to the bliss gained by kissing, but the casual observer of this poem may not have been able to discern this. It sounds nice though, doesnt it?

This is a prime example of a time when grammar and meaning is tossed in the toilet for the sake of a rhyme. Another example of this is in line 28, the rhyme of love and above. This is a brilliant use of clich, another of Keats favorite devices that, combined with the relative meaninglessness of the line in which it is contained, creates a convocation of idiomatic debris. Keats use of literary devices is much more commendable than his adjectivizing and clicking skills, in fact he does quite well in that regard. In the first line, Keats uses multiple denotations of still to emphasize his theme. Still could mean either without sound, not moving, or at or up to the time indicated.

In line 2, he goes straight into a metaphor / personification , calling the urn a foster-child of silence and slow time. This reference emphasizes that the urn doesnt belong in modern times, and has been preserved for a long time. Near the end of the first stanza, he uses rhetorical questions that he quickly dismisses at the beginning of the second with a paradox Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter. In stanza 3, Keats uses more rhetorical questions, starting with a new scene. He further ponders things not even depicted in the urn, the town emptied for the sacrifice (of the heifer, not the people I presume).

The last five lines, however, hold the real key to the poem. He considers that when everyone else is dead and gone, that urn will still be there to remind us that Beauty is truth, truth beauty, -- that is all Ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know. At first, this seems just fine, until one deciphers the meaning of the last two lines. What happened to evil and its purportedly deceptive beauty? It is common knowledge that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and it is not absolute. Keats cleverly disguises his love for the darkness in metaphors and poems; by the transitive property, if Evil appear to be Beauty, then Keats advocates that Evil is truth, truth Evil.

If an urn told someone that, it would be advisable to smash this alleged urn into countless bitty pieces.

Research essay sample on Ode On A Grecian Urn Rhyme Scheme