How John Keats Writes A Poem | Ode On A Grecian Urn

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SOURCES
Patterson, Charles I. “Passion and Permanence in Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn.” ELH, vol. 21, no. 3, 1954, pp. 208-20. JSTOR, doi.org/10.2307/2871963.
Wigod, Jacob D. “Keats’s Ideal in the Ode on a Grecian Urn.” PMLA, vol. 72, no. 1, 1957, pp. 113-21. JSTOR, doi.org/10.2307/460222.
Mauro, Jason. “The Shape of Despair: Structure and Vision in Keats’s ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn.’” Nineteenth-Century Literature, vol. 52, no. 3, 1997, pp. 289-301. JSTOR, doi.org/10.2307/2933996.
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The Nerdwriter is a series of video essays about art, culture, politics, philosophy and more.

[@yejunchun]

Dear Evan, please PLEASE do more video essays on poetry! They are some of your best and really I can't find another channel that manages to break down such literature in such a majestic way! And to be frank, your depictions are poetry of their own

[@mynameists97]

I agree! Poetry analysis videos like this are gorgeous!

[@AMldn]

Yes, do more on poetry if you want less views 😂

[@fawaaza.7743]

@@AMldn the close-minded philistine's' attention does not matter anyway.

[@Shinkajo]

@@fawaaza.7743 Imagine calling someone a philistine unironically. Come down to earth, you special little snowflake.

[@sarahwatts7152]

Yes please!

[@Renannight6]

John Keats is one of my favourite poets. No other poet was able to convey the power of beauty in relation to his life in such a powerful way. It's terrible that he died at 25 - we're so lucky to have been left with a body of work from him all the same

[@Shinkajo]

Who are the rest?

[@anikethchakraborty3238]

​@@ShinkajoShelley

[@ReynaSingh]

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.”

[@reikun86]

I love that line from Endymion. :)

[@frederickfairlieesq5316]

I’ll never forget my freshman year of college when I took my first college level literature class. On the very first day, the assistant professor spent the entire time breaking down The Second Coming by WB Yeats. Prior to that day, I felt as if I understood the draw of poetry. By the time the class finally ended 90 minutes later, I came to the shocking realization that I had no idea the magnitude of what I did not know about poetry. And even more than that, I was in awe of humanity and our ability to achieve greatness.

[@user-ke3kz2vb7s]

Could you tell us what you learned from the class, please?

[@sc5734]

Absolutely unreal poet, Ode to a Nightingale is my favourite poem of his. He really gets an emotional rise out of me, I sometimes his stuff hits so hard I find myself crying. "Thou wast not born for death immortal bird, no hungry generations tread thee down" gets me every time Might you consider doing a video on Eliot? Your poetry videos are some of your best I think

[@amherst88]

Also my favorite of his -- I taught poetry inside a correctional facility and it was that poem that reached one particular gentleman who had no idea what poetry was or why he should have anything to do with it.

[@Felarof245]

John Keats definitely is one of the biggest influences I had on my "reading career". His work left a deep impact and I just adore it. I love to pick a poem from time to time and read it over an over again and just think about it for days. He made me fall in love with words and language.

[@palebee6157]

These poetry essays are my favourite videos of yours, and I think the one on the Emily Dickinson poem might be my favourite video essay in general. It's always lovely to see these on my feed

[@BbGun-lw5vi]

Emily’s essay was my favorite too! This is my second favorite.

[@PixelRuzt]

This poem is so enchanting that ever since I have read it as a child it has stayed in my mind and to this day I quote from it in day to day life. It truly is a masterpiece by a master poet.

[@augustosarmentodeoliveira3023]

I was just commenting last night with a friend of how much I love your videoessays about poetry, and of how dynamic the text appears on the screen. Thanks!!!

[@foggycoaster4270]

'ode on grecian urn' is my favourite poem ever and as I went to click on the video I wondered which poems the video would include, how happy I was when I realised it is entirely focused on 'ode on a grecian urn'. I love your analysis of it and how you express yourself. So good to know people like this exist, thank you.

[@Sael-lu7tl]

This video is amazing. They way that poem is explained is literally perfect. Can't wait to watch more videos of you on poetry.

[@josemlsoares]

I just want to express my deepest admiration for you. I've been following your channel for so long now that I eagerly wait for each video to come out. It is so inspiring that I can't express enough how much I've learn with this. So, thank you!

[@sould0ubt]

Evan! This is my favorite Keats poem, and your analysis brings it to life in a new way. Thank you for this meta dive: of Keats into the urn, of you into Keats, and of us into your video 😆

[@hardfiled]

One of your best. The conclusion of your essay gave me shivers.

[@Aryannn2023]

What a profound breakdown. I am in awe of this channel. Great work!

[@jcreel00]

Your video essays are spectacular. Thank you!

[@Thesignalpath]

An ode to reality. Wonderfully written and analyzed.

[@leandromamani6366]

I have ended up into tears, this poem is AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL ❤😢

[@7noab]

"Inside the museum infinity goes up on trial, Voices echo, 'this is what salvation must look like after a while' Mona Lisa must've had the highway blues you can tell by the way she smiles!" -Bob Dylan, Visions of Johanna

[@MichaKunze]

I didn't know what to expect and I was hooked from the first second on. Thank you!

[@kritzzy11]

This is the most perfect thing I've watched all day, Thank you!!!!

[@BiggerinRealLife]

I love this poem, and love your breakdown.

[@Squillaume]

Thank you for such a fantastic close reading of poetry. Some of Keats best poems completely exemplify what you conclude about the poem’s wider effect - what Keats referred to in correspondence as ‘Negative Capability’ - the poet’s exaltation of beauty over every other consideration, fact, or reason. I can’t wait for more of these videos.

[@scotttesser1537]

I still feel as if I can't 'get' poetry unless it's explained to me, which is why I love your videos on this subject. Please make more! Also, loved the essay book! Everyone go pick it up, it's absolutely worth it.

[@valq10]

I think the trick is to first zoom in on what each line or so just literally means, and then realise what the overall argument is, or arguments are. I find it's easy for the sounds and rhymes to wash over me without taking in the meaning of the words. But a poem is making a point (or several, sometimes conflicting points).

[@Sirrajj]

This was such a introspective video completely calmed the mind and yes, life is temporary that's why it's precious beautiful!

[@einsibongo]

Thank you for doing videos poems, best of thanks from Iceland

[@kevinmcqueenie7420]

Such a good analysis for someone like me who is super dense about poetry. I understand Burns through school and my own research, and Larkin and Blake because they both interested me, but never grasped Keats. This gave me some food for thought!

[@AliceHope78]

You are truly exceptional... I cannot properly express how much admiration I have for you, your mind, your thought process, your sensibility... Thank you so much for this analisys, I was kinda moved by it... please do more if you feel like it, I'd greatly appreciate them 😊 Cheers from a distant gal in Italy

[@percivalyracanth1528]

Keats was so good, Dan Simmons wrote the Hyperion Cantos as a whole 4-book sci-fi ode to him.

[@zacharywong483]

Really nice video, as always! Great job here, Evan!

[@reynaldovia4474]

That’s the old Nerdwriter I fell in love with Welcome Back

[@kokorathore9352]

Beautifully explained, thankyou!

[@davidritchie9017]

Wonderful. I really love and appreciate your work. Thank you for what you do!

[@mahtab.tonmoy]

Best corner of KZbin

[@raymondhummel5211]

The words of the poem explained surely bring much more enjoyment to the listener. Such well crafted verse! John Keats is surely at the top of poetic talent!

[@ShiningEyeBrigade]

This was fantastic. More please!

[@elizabethharper547]

I am an English teacher and have used your videos to help my classes analyse Shakespeare's sonnets and the use of structure as discussed in 'Passengers'. I have loved your work for a very long time (especially your videos that relate to The Lord of the Rings!) please keep it up!

[@TheBrood525]

YES! You do videos in poetry as well! Please please please do a video exploring how the Romanticpoets lives’ being so intertwined might have influenced each others poems. I’m reading a biography on Percy Shelley that lead me to read on on Mary Shelley, then John Keats, then Lord Byron… you get my point! The death of Keats and Shelley is especially interesting to me, I highly recommend you look into it.

[@jakecurtis9398]

This was such a beautiful piece of education. Thank you.

[@jimpickard3850]

Really beautiful explanation. I really enjoyed that.

[@shawkel1]

Wonderful! Please do more videos on poems - maybe on the rest of his Odes?

[@dylanzlyang]

What a roller coaster of a poem

[@DaveBerendhuysen]

Somehow reminded me of Naruto Akatsuki's Deidara who could animate clay and blow them up at a distance, often emphasizing how his art's transience elevates it.

[@balthus7579]

Dan Simmons aproved

[@TheSelfCenter]

Great Video! This is really inspirational to write! ☀️☀️

[@ms.m3n]

Man this video caught me by emotional, refreshing surprise. Sandwiched between witnessing my father slowly wither away and baring the unfolding mystery of who my son grows to be more and more every day that passes.

[@billgerdts7043]

Going one layer up, this KZbin video about the poem seems to be both permanent and transient: fixed and one moment away from being a direct conversation with someone, but also beautiful in how eventually KZbin servers will go kaput and this video will be no longer. Brb gonna go rock back and forth in a corner.

[@kurremkarmerruk8718]

By the time he wrote his famous five odes, Keats had developed some fairly elaborate theories about how to write poetry. He aspired to be a "chameleon poet," that is, completely embodying the object in an act of total, ego-less empathy. This was not supposed to be sustainable for long periods, and explains the intensity of the language and the fact there's such a tension about the speaker's focus, which fluctuates in and out of the moment. The second stanza employs a technique he believed he had discovered in Dryden's Illiad (if I remember correctly) that he called "stationing," where the poem fixates on particular images in the poem, preferably ones with movement (like an eagle in flight, for example), to create yet more visceral tension and force the reader into a kind of contemplative state. The intense repetition ("happy" and "forever") is supposed to evoke an ecstasy, or at least represent it, in a way not unsimilar to sufi poetry, to acheive a kind of henosis: that is, an experiential, and explicitly NOT intellectual, sympathy with the divine. The aim of the poet, and perhaps the speaker (but this is slightly less clear) is to reach the "very bourne of heaven," and "pluck fine verisimilitude[s] from the penetralium of mystery." All the above could be achieved using his masterful and most profoundly original theory of "negative capability." Whatever experience the poet was having, whatever truth was being imparted, he had to be able to record it as art without reaching after facts or conclusions, thus losing the effect and the beauty of the message. He had to be a heirophant who could impart divine truth without corrupting it (Keats' chosen deity was Apollo). The intense exertion of the poet is necessarily fleeting and the art that remains, as this video rightly points out, is the most important thing. The ancient Greeks had Aeolian harps that would respond to the wind, and this is what Keats believed the poet should exemplify. It is unclear to what extent Keats believed he was channelling some exogenous force; his writings frame it in this way, but we'll probably never know how sincere he was in his mysticism, whether he was credulous to the nebulous, or if he'd just made it all up and chanced upon a kind of theosophy by crazy coincidence. His famous conclusion, "beauty is truth, truth beauty," is lifted straight from William Hazlitt, whose writings, lectures and conversations Keats used almost plagiaristically. Hazlitt would have known his neoplatonism, so there might be a link there. It was almost a project of Keats to reify Hazlitt's aesthetics at this stage. Edit: and contradiction, lots of contradiction and paradox (just in case you were tempted to let the intellect take over). The way John Keats wrote poetry was truly amazing. This was lovely video with a really clear and accurate reading of a very busy text. More poetry essays from Nerdwriter would be most welcome!

[@neilsterritt9393]

Thanks for elaborating

[@katyvee01]

I love this! Keats is my favourite poet ever since my grade 9 teacher showed us Bright Star.

[@leonarduchamp]

just found out about thenerdwriter recently, and since then I've been devouring all the amazing videos. thanks so much for such stellar, fun, interesting and insightful stuff! do you edit the videos yourself? so talented and original 🙌🏽

[@Jonasemmerik]

Note how the poem is titled ode ''on'' a Grecian urn, while Keats' other odes are all an ode ''to'' something (see, for example, his ''Ode to Autumn''). This little detail refers to the double layer present in the poem: it is an an ode to a Grecian Urn, yet simultaneously regards to ode which itself is depicted on the urn. The poem contains, therefore, an ode within an ode...

[@i.hold.vertigo2329]

Great video, thank you Evan.

[@NickKarm]

Fantastic video!

[@skittlessnow245]

Love this!!!

[@newfieocean]

Hyperion by Dan Simmons... The only version of Keats I need to know.

[@montesoul]

The one who comes before!

[@JonathanWayneAndress]

The title I'm waiting on is, "How Nerdwriter writes an essay." 😉

[@harry7227]

Best video yet, really bought the poem to life and untangled it to a T

[@eddyk2016]

Thank you for this break down. I’d have never have understood this poem. 👍

[@Marco_Venieri]

This is an interpretation, that lights up the will of life and the importance of being alive. But sometimes i think of this poem as a will of being dead, as the urn, an happiness of being amongst the dead

[@thisSOBRocks]

I really enjoy your "How ... writes a poem" series. Very informative. One poem that has always alluded me is Poe's early work, "Al Aaraad." I'd love to hear your take on that monster of a poem.

[@dashlaru2]

Love the poetry. Really got to appreciate Keats with this. Thank you.

[@dashlaru2]

I totally commented this one the wrong video. It was hilarious.

[@arghyachakraborty]

He is my favourite poet! ❤ My favourite poem, however, is Ode to a Nightingale.

[@corlissmedia2.0]

I'm with Yejun's Thoughts! Thank you for a luscious read!

[@jamesthomson9525]

Bob Dylan said of John Keats (and I'm paraphrasing here) 'If you wanna write good lyrics, just read John Keats.' Ode to a Grecian Urn is a case in point of that.

[@stuartwray6175]

'is a case in point' - fullstop. Ode to a Grecian Urn typifies that.

[@supravak8481]

finally another nerdwriter video!!!!!

[@prenticeclark1454]

Your poetry analysis videos are wonderful. May I suggest doing one on Edna St. Vincent Millay? She was a master of the sonnet form and a welcome female voice in the poetry scene of her era. I love her poems so much I have some of them memorized

[@BbGun-lw5vi]

Wow! This is one of your best essays. You were able to explain the essence of this poem in only 9 minutes. And that last line was beautiful. You really shine with your poetry essays. Keats and Emily Dickinson are my favorite poets. Ode to a Nightingale never fails to make me cry. I would be delighted if you could consider doing a video on it or another one of Emily’s poems.

[@hamedmanoochehri5136]

I just finish Hyperion by Dan Simmons and I was really sad I had no real knowledge of Keats' poetry. Thank you for this. I'll go and check my notes on Keats/Hyperion connection.

[@LordosisProduction]

I just finished it also!

[@hamedmanoochehri5136]

@@LordosisProduction what do you think about it? Did you like it?

[@LordosisProduction]

@@hamedmanoochehri5136 yes it was good, I need to reread it lol. I read the first 2 books. I heard the next 2 are kinda different. Like two sets of 2 books.

[@plica06]

I always think this is the time of year for celebration of Keats, well in the Northern Hemisphere, nature is in full bloom yet (whisper) in a few short weeks we will see the season begin to turn.

[@learnvoiceart18]

Great poem!

[@SickleM]

Indeed, Keats’ poem is the Urn to us as the Urn is to him. Fantastic poem

[@pronoykanu]

Keats and Yeats are on your side while Wilde is on mine

[@poetic_softgirl]

Mind. Blown.

[@sarahallegra6239]

Would you please do Byron next?? I’d love that so much! This was beautiful and insightful.

[@ReyRey_os]

Beautiful

[@sivawright]

We need more videos on Poetry!!

[@Nikkiflausch]

Poems like this are proof to me for how good the poems in Doki Doki Literature Club are. They're so strong in their messaging and nature of poems that anyone can see the value of poetry in general and also find the emotional sentiment of the character who wrote it, but not on any kinda level that you need to spend more than a minute or two analysing the poetry, let alone decipher the emotional meaning.

[@marcosm5183]

Rewatch value is rewarding

[@samirkarki192]

And its so sad that this genius of a poet was mistreated by the likes of Byron and Wordsworth, and many others during his own life time and as a senstive soul it undoubtedly took a toll on his unalready frail health, ultimately causing him to pass away at such a young age of 25. A tragic figure indeed. Of all the romantic poets, he strikes to me the purest.

[@chris2489001]

He was dismissed as a "cockney" poet. "Here lies one whose name was writ in water,” is written on his tombstone. He never got to know how famous he would become.

[@BbGun-lw5vi]

The funny thing is that Byron and Wordsworth were so far below Keats. They were great poets but Keats was godly.

[@achilleus9918]

as much as i dislike wordsworth (or byron, though to a lesser extent), the idea that criticism led to his death is just untrue - it's a myth primarily propagated by percy shelley (eg in the poem 'adonais'). keats had tb, as did his mother and his brother tom. he knew he was dying as soon as he saw that he had coughed up blood; the disease had no known cure at the time. of course he was affected by criticism, but i'd argue that in his letters we see a reasonably healthy attitude to it, and while keats may have spent his last year in frail physical health he was certainly not frail mentally. see, for example, his idea of the world as "vale of soul-making", ie a place where we suffer in order to improve morally and in our appreciation of the world.

[@andremeIIo]

"Of all the romantic poets, he strikes to me the purest." Seems like you and Martin Silenus (or rather Dan Simmons) share an opinion over this. I'm starting to agree.

[@sataprescott7588]

Your "How X writes a Y" videos are my absolute favorite.

[@chrystianaw8256]

Please do more poetry analysis!

[@LuliLulu]

I wish I had an affinity for poetry, my mind just shuts down or wanders off

[@Jacob-Vivimord]

I'm the same way for most poetry. I wish I weren't.

[@shamsa6323]

girl you slayed

[@ShahJi-cu5tq]

Well explained

[@benrennie5508]

You’d make a cracking video on the ‘Alternative Movie Poster’ scene. Olly Moss, Martin Ansin, Laurent Durieux, Killian Eng, Rory Kurtz, Kevin Tong and Paul Mann. To name just a few… can be considered living Masters.

[@johannsergl9102]

My absolute favourite poem. Here is a response I have written for it: Memory of a broken Urn I. We do not know how they could be addressed. We found them foreign, toxic on that shore, which might have been a vital citadel against the void - too many shards to tell. we labelled them 'strange rocks' upon return, convinced no guided hand had formed their shape, but years of tides, or weather, or of both. II. They fondly held beguiling dust, were loth to shed their husks, yet dying to escape into an everlasting choir of grief and tearful praise - they sought to rise, to leave these earthen plates on wings into the skies, to live from late successors, who express a memory, a vision in their rhyme. III. They tried to speak to ages most endeared in fashioned views now faded in their tone, to spread to distant minds to share their woe and joyous dreams - they echoed all they know until they died upon that last dry toungue. They cry, now bound in quietness: "At least our candid constructs conquer time."

[@SirLuquent]

Now I can learn something about Keats other than what I read in Hyperion, lol

[@marcopolo7595]

you are amazing.

[@johnsibanda1922]

THANK YOU SO MUCH, MATE!

[@TheTokan123]

I just got done reading Hyperion cantos by Dan Simmons and John Keats is a important character in the story

[@aidan4624]

Great video! Your poetry videos are my favorite videos you make. I've read a lot about the Romantic poets and I've always heard from the major critics that Wordsworth, Blake or Shelley are generally considered the greatest of the Romantics. I'm just curious as to why you say that Keats was. I know Keats is probably the most popular of the Romantic poets but I've seldom heard that he's the greatest.

[@auntvesuvi3872]

Thanks, Evan! ✍ #Nerdwriter1 #TheNerdwriter #EvanPuschak #JohnKeats #Poetry

[@sassulusmagnus]

Keats is still writing? Very impressive. Very impressive indeed.

[@JamesMorfa]

Would love to be able to write a poem like Keats, but I'm afraid his skill and his talents are a bit beyond me. I don't think I could ever coming up with something wrapped up in so much meaning and imagery. It will not stop me taking up the challenge though.

[@ajamesu]

More poetry videos!!

[@lauraosterdock7492]

This is so beautiful! Well done!

[@mtchhsr]

Excellent reading and analysis of one of the best poems. Personally, I’m more a fan of Ode to a Nightingale… but all Keats’ odes are masterpieces.

[@ben251]

more poetry videos please!! :)

[@Swali_B]

This was a beautiful analysis. I wonder if you could go through "The Listeners" - by Walter de la Mare. I would truly love to hear your thoughts.

[@alexwillis-paulsen4597]

If you are interested in the philosophy of this poem and video, you should read The Farthest Shore. "We have only what we know we must lose, what we are willing to lose." "Would you have the sea grow still and the tides cease to save one wave, to save yourself?" It taught me that life and death cannot be separated because life is change and change is death.