_ Arcadia, a very
mountainous
country, the centre of the
Peloponnese, was the last stronghold of the aboriginal Greeks.
Peloponnese, was the last stronghold of the aboriginal Greeks.
Keats
glades.
_ The whole country speeds past our eyes in
these three lines.
NOTES ON THE ODE ON A GRECIAN URN.
This poem is not, apparently, inspired by any one actual vase, but by
many Greek sculptures, some seen in the British Museum, some known only
from engravings. Keats, in his imagination, combines them all into one
work of supreme beauty.
Perhaps Keats had some recollection of Wordsworth's sonnet 'Upon the
sight of a beautiful picture,' beginning 'Praised be the art. '
PAGE 113. l. 2. _foster-child. _ The child of its maker, but preserved
and cared for by these foster-parents.
l. 7. _Tempe_ was a famous glen in Thessaly.
_Arcady.
_ Arcadia, a very mountainous country, the centre of the
Peloponnese, was the last stronghold of the aboriginal Greeks. The
people were largely shepherds and goatherds, and Pan was a local
Arcadian god till the Persian wars (c. 400 B. C. ). In late Greek and in
Roman pastoral poetry, as in modern literature, Arcadia is a sort of
ideal land of poetic shepherds.
PAGE 114. ll. 17-18. _Bold . . . goal. _ The one thing denied to the
figures--actual life. But Keats quickly turns to their rich
compensations.
PAGE 115.
these three lines.
NOTES ON THE ODE ON A GRECIAN URN.
This poem is not, apparently, inspired by any one actual vase, but by
many Greek sculptures, some seen in the British Museum, some known only
from engravings. Keats, in his imagination, combines them all into one
work of supreme beauty.
Perhaps Keats had some recollection of Wordsworth's sonnet 'Upon the
sight of a beautiful picture,' beginning 'Praised be the art. '
PAGE 113. l. 2. _foster-child. _ The child of its maker, but preserved
and cared for by these foster-parents.
l. 7. _Tempe_ was a famous glen in Thessaly.
_Arcady.
_ Arcadia, a very mountainous country, the centre of the
Peloponnese, was the last stronghold of the aboriginal Greeks. The
people were largely shepherds and goatherds, and Pan was a local
Arcadian god till the Persian wars (c. 400 B. C. ). In late Greek and in
Roman pastoral poetry, as in modern literature, Arcadia is a sort of
ideal land of poetic shepherds.
PAGE 114. ll. 17-18. _Bold . . . goal. _ The one thing denied to the
figures--actual life. But Keats quickly turns to their rich
compensations.
PAGE 115.
