Hey everyone! Today I took a short trip back to the British Museum to look at some Grecian urns and get some perspective on one of the poems we read in class yesterday, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats. The basic premise of the piece, as I see it, is that these images are forever frozen in time, stuck in the moments that they portray. Because of this, Keats implies that they know true happiness: they will never have to leave that timeless moment. The urn which inspired this piece was actually on display for a while, but is no longer in its usual place in the museum. As a result, I looked for other urns to analyze in regards to the piece.

The first urn that really caught my eye depicted a bride and groom in a chariot, with Greek gods surrounding them and joining in the revelry of the moment. Their moment of love and happiness will always remain the same, still in the honeymoon stage of their relationship, no matter what actually happened to the couple in real life so long ago. As Keats declared, "More happy love! More happy, happy love!/For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd..."

In another room, I discovered an urn that showed the story of satyrs dancing and playing on a bottom ring, with a top ring of men and women in various poses. One of the women was being presented with a crown of laurels, and she was standing next to a soldier with a spear. The dancing of the satyrs was interesting to me, and I wondered what kind of music they would have been playing. Keats said, "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter," and I think he feels this way because of the limitless potential of what those melodies could be. They could be of any genre, tempo, or volume, depending on what the viewer imagines, and that power of imagination cannot be confined as it would be if an actual melody was presented.

I enjoyed being able to return to the British Museum, since I got to visit some of the areas that I missed out on last time. It also helped me to further understand Keats's perspective on these Grecian works of art.

Tomorrow: I'll be in Ireland! Next post either on Sunday evening or Monday morning, unless I get internet access earlier.