"Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats

A reading of Keats' famous poem about a ancient Greek vase with a pastoral scene.

The last lines are very famous. But poetry is like advertising jingles and it passes unchecked into the subconscious. He was afraid that Fanny "had a touch of the Cressida" meaning that she'd been unfaithful.

Poetry is an anodyne to harsh reality in which Beauty can be False and Truth can be Ugly.

"Thou still unravish'd Bride of Quietness
The guests have all gone home, take off that dress..

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Ode
• Grecian
• Urn
• John
• Keats
• Poem
• Poetry

[kinxectic]

I enjoyed this reading tremendously - the echo that followed your deep bass voice literally sent chills down my spine. Especially when you read " Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd". The "earred" sound was reverberating. Also, the voice added a little credibility and potency to Keat's ironic truth, as would a child would feel listening to the words of a particularly aged and sagely man.

[SpokenVerse]

@kinxectic This was one of the first readings I posted. Now I have a better mike, I start with an uncompressed file and I don't use special effects - except in unusual circumstances. Now I use YouTube's HD format You might like my later reading better.

[kinxectic]

@SpokenVerse I did try, but it couldn't compare. Oh well...

[kinxectic]

@BLACKIESBOY That is where Rationality and Logic comes in, and what traditional Romanticists seek to avoid. Many Romantic poems are often sensual, even visceral,written from observation and with intuition. I scarcely think that any poet, with a sense of appropriate decency, to claim that their view of the world is universal, but rather, what should be. This is called, as Harold Bloom wrote, "Romantic Irony" - the disparity between what is deserved and should be, and its obvious absence". 

[SpokenVerse]

@BLACKIESBOY I can only read it my way.  You can read it your way if you want to. Let me know when you've posted it.

[BLACKIESBOY]

@SpokenVerse

Anyway... I much liked it. Though, you should have read it with curiosity, placing stresses and projecting your voice accordingly, in particular as you start it out. That first verse is probably my favorite: I just thought it so beautiful he was asking an urn (figuratively) those questions.

It almost sounds like something you would ask a historian (or generic wise man)... Or maybe a pretty woman who contains all of this... knowledge. And I have to get it out of her... o3o

[BLACKIESBOY]

@ITILII

Strange... I knew a lot of beautiful things devoid of any meaning and a lot of ugly things full of it.

It's probably why I don't like Romanticists too much: they spread all of this stuff about beauty and how it's worthy of artistry... But isn't the point of artistry to go BEYOND what is superficial?

[williamemarks]

The Grecian Urn is usually embellished with artistic renderings of nature and the human form - sometimes with a raised surface. Keats was so intrigued with the art on Grecian Urns that he made tracings from their surface.

Urns are made of fired clay or carved stone, such as marble, and hold air, water, and cremated dust. Thus, we have the four elements so eloquently referred to in Keats' poem, Ode on a Grecian Urn.

[williamemarks]

Lovely reading, Keats was deeply connected with the powers of creation that flows though us and nature. His last request was to be buried under a tombstone, without his name, and bearing only the legend: "Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water"

[poetryanimations]

Thankyou this is a wonderful elequent reading.Who is reading this please ? I've posted my virtual movie of Keats reading his great poem as a response 5 stars and into my favourites and I have subscribed and will looking out for more wonderful readings by this captivating reader.

Kind Regards

Jim Clark aka poetryanimations at youtube and poetrylad at Dailymotion