ACriticalStudyofOdeonaGrecianUrnfromaNewCritical，Romantic， andMimeticPerspective

Written in 1819， Ode on a Grecian Urn became one of Keats’s most significant masterpieces. After three hundred years， however， the poem is still chanted till now. In Keats’s poem， the urn， which is used for containing the ashes of the dead by the ancient Grecian， has the vitality， on which present the momentary scene in human’s life and capture the eternal beauty and passion in human’s life. Because of Keats， this moment become human’s eternal memory. Because of the literary critics， the poem can be analyses in three different aspects ranging from the content， the imagination to the value of the poem.

Firstly， originating from the formalism， new criticism gets its prosperity during the early 1960s. Slightly different from the former Russian formalism， which forces on the function of literary devices and introduces the notion of defamiliarization， new criticism concentrates on the “key elements of ambiguity， irony， and paradox”. （3） Its main representative Cleanth Brooks emphasizes paradox as a constitutive feature of poetic language. （P61） Especially in Empson’s Seven Types of Ambiguity， he also pays much attention to the irony， ambiguity， and paradox， which echoes Brooks’s claim that ambiguity is a vital element of the unity of a literary work. （P61） So， according to the theory of new criticism， I think there exist many pairs of paradoxical symbols in the poem， which combines the content of the poem as the unity. Take three of them as examples； firstly， the paradoxical words appear in the relationship between dynamic and statics. For example， Keats describes the urn as the “unravish’d bride” that is “quietness”， “silence”， and brought by the “slow time”. The urn is given the static feature. The poet uses many silent and quietness symbol. But， in the next three stanzas， the symbols become vivid and full of passion， such as the description of sound， the “happy melodist” who is always “piping for ever new”， and the “for ever panting， and forever young” boy who would like dance forever. The two totally opposite expresses Keats’s love for this urn. Secondly， the paradox exits the comparison between eternity and disappearance. The craftsman craved the beautiful pictures on the urn， but as the time goes by， the mud urn could finally become the earth， which means the beautiful love story could go lose with the time. However， I think this appearance would get a new life and become eternity in the poem. Thirdly， the paradox is between death and beauty. The picture of beauty and imagination of love is carved on the urn that contained the bone ashes. Keats connected beautiful love story and urn that symbolizes the death together. But， I think even though urn stands for death， yet in the other hand， it means the eternal cycle from death to live. For example， the symbols in the poem， such as， “urn”， “alter” and “the face which never fades”， are another name for the eternity， which expresses the beauty would never disappear. In The Language of Paradox， Cleanth Brooks said that truth that the poet utters could be approached only in terms of paradox. （P301） Maybe he exaggerates the influence of irony and paradox， but it is quite true that the poet uses paradox to indicate the connotation as well as the denotation. For Keats， in Ode on a Grecian Urn， the underlying descriptions of the urn aims to embody his advocate on how people should know and realize beauty in poem and how people should find the true meaning of beauty in poem. For example， the denotation of the urn is death， but its connotation is “eternity”， and the “cannot fade” beauty. And the combination of denotation and connotation forms the poem as a unity. Just as in The Critical Tradition Classical Texts and Contemporary Trends， Brooks suggest the organic unity of the text is the best illustrated by focusing on the working of irony. （P758）

Furthermore， the unity between form and content as well as the paradox of symbols become less important for the romantic poets. Generally speaking， in contrast to the rationalism of the enlightenment thinkers and classicists， the romanticists paid great attention to the spiritual and emotional life of man and the influence of human imagination. Meanwhile， nature also plays an important role in their works. The passion of man and the beauty of nature appealed strongly to the imagination of the Romantic writers. The glory of lakes and mountains， the weal and woe of ordinary， uncultured peasants， the wonder of the fairy world， and even the splendid Greek art， all of them become the poets’ feelings. Comparing with Wordsworth， Keats absorbs the essence of romanticism， such as the description of imagination and symbols， as well as with his unique aesthetic thoughts， he leads the development and evolution of romanticism poems. The Ode to a Grecian Urn embodies a spontaneous expression of the poet’s feeling. It not only makes the connection between human imagination and symbols， but also depicts the entwined relationship between virtuality and reality， dynamic and statics， temporality and eternity. For instance， in the first stanza， the metaphor of “unravish’d bride” personalizes the urn， whose perfect feature is eternal because of the “silence” and “slow time”. The poet has already intoxicated inside this forever beauty and thought it were “more sweetly than our rhyme”. In the second and third stanzas， Keats depicts the story of the “fair youth” and “she”. Even though their love story could not have the ending， yet when the love frozen on the urn， it has already become the eternal memory. In Kant’s The View to Beauty and Sublime and Edmund Burke’s The Beautiful and Sublime， they all make distinction about the features of beauty and sublime. According to them， I think in Ode to a Grecian Urn， the small and smooth beauty of the urn and the pictures on it and the magnificent and vast sublime experience of the invisible emotion are strongly expressed. The poem is the mixture of beauty and sublime.

However， this spontaneous overflow of powerful imagination becomes the mirror and imitation in mimesis. According to Plato’s Republic， the inspiration of the poems is nothing else but the reflection and mirror to the reality. Just like his metaphorical explanation on how the imitation happened， he said the original bed is the one “existing in nature， which is made by God”， （P34） which stands for the initial idea. The second imitation is “another which is the work of the carpenter”， and “the work of the painter” is the third imitation. （P34） So， basing on Plato’s notion of imitation， the pictures carved on the urn are imperfect and defective. The “flowery tale”， the story of “men or gods”， the “fair youth”， and even the “more happy love” are the third time imitation basing on their original ideas， which are the eternal things. Even though the poet depicted the images vividly， yet he still could not arrive at the real ideas of the objects. If Plato had lived long enough to read Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn， he would despise and label Keats’s work as “an imitator of images and is very far removed from the truth”. （P39）

The explanation on imitation also shows the idea of what good literature is or what value it has. I think if we look from the mimetic perspective， the essence of literature is imitation. But its mimetic object is the subjective or sensual world， which is the reflection and replica of the idea. So Plato said the poet’s “creations have an inferior degree of truth” and are “being the associate of an inferior part od soul”. （P39） Take Ode on a Grecian Urn as an example， the descriptions of the urn are the reflections to the idea of it. Besides， the poet’s imaginations on the urn copy images of virtue and have no contact with truth. So， Plato possibly could not think Ode on a Grecian Urn as a good poem. When reading the Republic， however， it is obvious that Republic is a theatrical poetry written in the form of dialogue. As a result， we have to ask how we could define the value of poem， the value of art， or even the value of beauty. Different from Plato’s opinion， I think Ode on a Grecian Urn unveiled the true meaning of good literature and beauty. Just as Keats wrote， “truth is beauty， beauty is truth”. The beauty has no relationship with the creation of god or people’s second and third imitation； on the contrary， it exists inside the individual experience of beauty. So， in The Renaissance： Studies in Art and Poetry， Walter Pater said that for art comes to you proposing frankly to give nothing but the highest quality to your moments as they pass， and simply for those moments’ sake. （P153） The value of art and literature hide in the subjective and individual experience. Also in the preface of The Picture of Dorian Gray， Wilde said， “Art is useless”. （P5） As far as I am concerned， the reason why “art is useless” is that art or literature is born to give the enjoyment of beauty and to pursue the pure the inner beauty. It is not the medium or tool between imagination and reality or the response and feeling bailment of reality. It is “not the fruit of experience， but experience itself”. （P152） Excepting the experience of beauty， art can do nothing. This beauty in art has realized its own independence by itself instead of relying on reflection of reality. So， in the Decay of Lying， Wilde said that art find her own perfection within， and not outside of herself and art is not to be judged by any external standard of resemblance. （P680） Meanwhile， this beauty inside the art also has not been decided by the artists or been led by the reality. Just as Wilde noted that art is absolutely indifferent to fact， invents， imagines， dreams （P678）， which get its reflection in Keats’s Letter to Richard Woodhouse， where he wrote that a poet is the most poetical of any thing in existence because he has no identity. （P536） Similarly， in the preface of The Picture of Dorian Gray， Wilde advocates that to reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim. （P5） I think it means the separation between the poet and the beauty inside the poem. The poet can get can the identity as the sun， the water， even the women. The process of experiencing beauty conceals the existence of the poet， which leaves the pure， subjective and individual experience of beauty.

The process of analyzing the poem entwines with the developing of the literary theories. After the process， we not only appreciate the poem singly at the level of sound and images， but also we explore more deeply to find the resonance with the soul of the poem. First， the antithesis between Mimesis and Aestheticism contributes the introspection on the definition of art and interrelationship between truth and beauty. Then， romantic poets allow us to experience the imagination and to capture the natural tranquility. And formalism leads us to the inner structure of the content. The applicants of the three theories analyze the poem ranging from the content， the imagination to the value of the poem， which not only show the poem’s beauty in words， but also embody Keats’s advocates on the dialectical relationship between beauty and truth.

References：

[1]Brooks，Cleanth.“Irony as a Principle of Structure”.The Critical Tradition Classical Texts and Contemporary Trends.Edited.D.H. Richer[J].Boston：Bedford，1998.

[2]Brooks，Cleanth.“The Language of Paradox”.The well-wrought urn： studies in the structure of poetry[J].New York：Harcourt，Brace World，1947，Print.

[3]Burke，Edmund.A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful[J].Oxford：Blackwell，1987，Print.

[4]Castle，Gregory.The literary theory handbook[J].West Sussex：John Wiley，2013.

[5]Empson，William.Seven Types of Ambiguity[J].London：Chatto and Windus，1947，Print.

[6]Kant.The View to Beauty and Sublime.Trans.He Zhaowu[M].Beijing： The Commercial Press，2001.

[7]Keats，John.“Letter to Richard Woodhouse”.Selected letters of John Keats.Edited.Grant， F.Scott[M].Mass：Harvard University Press，2002.

[8]Pater，Water.“Conclusion.”The Renaissance：Studies in Art and Poetry.Edited.Adam， Phillips[M].New York：Oxford University Press，1986，Print.

[9]Plato.Republic.Cited.Critical Theory Since Plato.Edited.Adams，Hazard[M].Fort Worth：Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Press，1992，Print.

[10]Wilde，Oscar.The Decay of Lying.Cited.Critical Theory Since Plato.Edited.Adams，Hazard[M].Fort Worth：Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Press，1992，Print.

[11]Wilde，Oscar.“The Preface.”The Picture of Dorian Gray[J].London：Penguin Books，1994，Print.

【作者簡介】宮瑞，香港浸會大學。