Poem 1

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied, For ever piping songs for ever new - "Ode on a Grecian Urn," John Keats

poem 2

Such dim-conceived glories of the brain

Bring round the heart an indescribable feud;

So do these wonders a most dizzy pain,

That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude

Wasting of old Time-with a billowy main-

A sun-a shadow of a magnitude.

-"On Seeing the Elgin Marbles,"

John Keats

Write two to four sentences comparing the themes of the two poems. Use evidence from the texts to support your answer.

Question

Ruth Archer

English

21 November, 08:04

Poem 1

Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearied, For ever piping songs for ever new - "Ode on a Grecian Urn," John Keats

poem 2

Such dim-conceived glories of the brain

Bring round the heart an indescribable feud;

So do these wonders a most dizzy pain,

That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude

Wasting of old Time-with a billowy main-

A sun-a shadow of a magnitude.

-"On Seeing the Elgin Marbles,"

John Keats

Write two to four sentences comparing the themes of the two poems. Use evidence from the texts to support your answer.

+4

Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Trevon Reeves · Answer 1

Both poems discuss the passage of time. However, both discuss different aspects of this idea.

In the first poem, it will forever be spring - - time has been frozen. He is envious of the piper, who will be forever playing. (Unlike us, for whom time passes.)

In the second poem, however, time has taken its toll on the marble, which is why Keats says that Grecian grandeur has been mingled with with the "rude wasting of time." Here, looking at the marble makes him remember time passes for us all.