ODE ON A GRECIAN URN BY JOH KEATS

Title:

On a Grecian Urn means to or about a Greek urn. The urn is addressed (= talked to). Talking to a
thing is a thing that poets do in odes. (You will see that in this ode, the poet also addresses the
things he sees on the urn.)

Line 1: THOU still unravish’d bride of quietness,

The urn is the virgin (“unravished” means she has not been touched) bride of quietness. A bride is
a woman who gets married. In this case the vase is the bride of quiet.

Line 2: Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time,

The urn is also the foster-child (= not a biological child but one that is taken care of by someone
else than its parent) of Silence and Time. Usually time is fast, but here not, because we are talking
about an urn which is not alive, so time passes slowly for it.

Line 3 & 4: Sylvan historian, who canst thus express

A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
Sylvan (or Sylvain) means of the woods. The word has a pleasant, peaceful connotation. So sylvan
historian means the maker of the urn who presents a pleasant scene in the woods. Canst is an old-
fashioned form of can.

Line 5: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape

What legend (= old story) framed with leaves can be found around your shape (= the urn).

Line 6: Of deities or mortals, or of both,

Deities are gods, and mortals are humans (mortal comes from the French mort = dead.)

Line 7: In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?

Tempe is a valley in Greece. A dale is also a valley. Arcady is a region in Greece that is associated
with a peaceful and simple country life.

Line 8: What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?

A maiden is an old word for girl. Loth means not willing (the girls don’t want to). What don’t the
girls want? Well, probably to be kissed or more than that.

Line 9: What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?

Mad pursuit may refer to a classic scene where fauns who are always horny pursue (pursuit is the
noun, and pursue means chase) the girls or nymphs. The nymphs/girls then struggle (fight) to
escape the men’s grabbing arms.
Line 10: What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
Pipes are flutes. A timbrel is an ancient tambourine.

The music is played and the people or gods in the picture are going wild. They’re ecstatic. They’re
probably dancing wildly. You get the idea.

Stanza 2:
Line 11: Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Line 12: Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
This stanza speaks of things that are not in the scene on the urn. When we look at the urn, we might
hear music in our imagination, but that music isn’t really there. The speaker of the poem draws
our attention to this, and he says the music that you can’t actually hear, that imaginary music, is
actually better than real music. Quite an interesting statement to make. Do you agree with the poet?

Line 13: Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,

The pipes (= flutes) in the picture on the urn play not to our physical (“sensual”) ears, but to the
ears of our imagination. And these are better loved (“more endear’d), or at least the speaker of the
poem thinks so, than our real ears.

Line 14: Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:

A ditty is a simple song. The flutes are asked to play with the songs, but they are spirit songs =
sung by ghosts. The songs don’t exist either; they have no tone, as they exist only in the
imagination of the person who is looking at the urn. But hey, wait, even the urn itself doesn’t
actually exist, as it exists only in the mind of the poet. After all, the poet didn’t refer us to an
existing urn. He never said: “Please go to the British Museum and have a look at the famous Apollo
urn.” Or whatever other famous pot. In fact, we have no idea which urn Keats is talking about.
Even the urn is in the imagination.

Line 15: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Line 16: Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
These lines and the ones until the end of the stanza teach us another aspect of art. Visual art
captures only one moment, and makes it eternal. The youth are always under the trees. Fair means
beautiful. The people are in the scene are always hearing the same song. The trees will never lose
their leaves.

Line 17: Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,

The lover will never get the kiss he is waiting for.

Line 18: Though winning near the goal—yet, do not grieve;

But the lover still has won a few points. He doesn’t need to be sad.

Line 19: She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
The woman he wants will not fade = she will not grow ugly and old. On the other hand, he will
never be happy,

Line 20: For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!
His love will be forever, and she will forever be beautiful.

Stanza 3:
Line 21: Ah, happy happy boughs! that cannot shed
Line 22: Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
Boughs are branches of a tree. The branches will never lose (“shed”) their leaves. We knew that
already. They never bid the Spring adieu = they never say goodbye to spring. It’s always spring.

Line 23: And, happy melodist, unwearièd,

Line 24: For ever piping songs for ever new;
The happy musician, unwearied (= not tired), is forever playing his flute songs that are also forever
new.

Line 25: More happy love! more happy, happy love!

Line 26: For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,
The word “happy” is overused a little bit in these lines, don’t you think? Does the poet really think
that the creatures on the urn are happy? What do you think? I’m beginning to doubt it.
Anyway, everything looks good. The love is forever warm and fresh, on the point of being enjoyed.

Line 27: For ever panting, and for ever young;

The lovers are forever young and out of breath with excitement.

Line 28: All breathing human passion far above,

The lovers are “above” human passion, which means they are at a distance from it; they’re at a
better place.

Line 29: That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d,

Human passion makes you worried and tired (cloy means wear out because something is too sticky,
too heavy, or too sweet).

Line 30: A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Passion can make you feel ill, as if you have a fever, with your forehead burning, and your tongue
sticking in your mouth (“parching” means dried out/very thirsty).
So what have we been reading so far?
Let’s stop to try to understand Stanza 3.

This stanza develops the thought from stanza 2 that nothing can change in the world of the picture
on the urn. It gives some more examples of that.

Then it stresses the idea that as little as human passion is not a part of the scene on the urn, neither
is human suffering “all breathing human passion far above.” Passion and suffering go together, is
the idea here, and art is clean of that. Or at least the conventional art in Keats’ time was.
Suffering and/in Art

As I’ve remarked above, before we started reading the poem, today we have plenty of paintings
and poems full with suffering. But probably that wasn’t what Keats was looking for in his own art.
He was looking for a way to say something meaningful about how art could talk about life and
how art can help us tolerate suffering.

Stanza 4: Time for a change of scene.

We’re now looking at another picture on the urn.

Line 31: Who are these coming to the sacrifice?

Some people are coming to a sacrifice = event of animal burning as offer to the gods.

Line 32: To what green altar, O mysterious priest,

Altar = the high place where offerings are made to the gods.

Line 33: Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,

The priest is leading a young cow (“heifer) to be sacrificed. The cow is lowing = mooing.

Line 34: And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
Drest = dressed. The cow’s legs (“flanks”) are decorated with flower chains.

Line 35: What little town by river or sea-shore,

Line 36: Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
A citadel is a fort. The people in the scene on the urn are imagined to be from a little town.

Line 37: Is emptied of its folk, this pious morn?

Is empty of people, on this morning of worship. Morn = morning. Pious means believing,
worshipping.
Line 38: And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Line 39: Will silent be; and not a soul, to tell
Line 40: Why thou art desolate, can e’er return.
The people in the scene are on their way to the sacrifice, so their town will forever be empty and
silent. No one (“not a soul”) will ever come back to explain what the reason is the town is empty.
The “you” (thou) is the town here.

Again it’s an example of how the scene on the urn is frozen in time, and is devoid (= empty) of
humanity and life.

Stanza 5:
Line 41: O Attic shape! fair attitude! with brede
Line 42: Of marble men and maidens overwrought,
Attic means from Athens, the capital of Greece. “Brede” is an interwoven pattern, like a braid but
here it’s in marble. The urn is decorated with marble men and women

Line 43: With forest branches and the trodden weed;

Amongst green trees and plants under their feet.

Line 44: Thou, silent form! dost tease us out of thought

Thou = you. The poet is talking to the urn again. The quiet urn which doesn’t speak challenges our
thoughts

Line 45: As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral!

As much as eternity = endless time. Pastoral = the sweet, peaceful country life.
The speaker calls the scene on the urn cold and not sweet, so cold pastoral is a paradox.

We’ve already discussed why the scene is cold. No real passion is going on; the scenes on the urn
are frozen. But they may look sweet and attractive.

Line 46: When old age shall this generation waste,

When people who live now will grow old and die,

Line 47: Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe

You (the urn) will stay, in the middle of all kinds of trouble

Line 48: Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say’st,

That is not ours. You’ll be a friend to man, to whom you will say:
Line 49: ‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Line 50: Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.’

Ode to the West Wind by Percy Bysshe Shelley

In this poem, Ode to the West Wind, Percy Shelley creates a speaker that seems to worship the
wind. He always refers to the wind as “Wind” using the capital letter, suggesting that he sees it as
his god. He praises the wind, referring to its strength and might in tones similar to the Biblical
Psalms which worship God. He also refers to the Greek God, Dionysus. The speaker continues to
praise the wind, and to beseech it to hear him. When he is satisfied that the wind hears him, he
begs the wind to take him away in death, in hopes that there will be a new life waiting for him on
the other side.

Ode to the West Wind by P.B.Shelley

Canto 1
Stanza 1
O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
In the opening stanza, the speaker appeals to the wild West Wind. The use of capital letters for
“West” and “Wind” immediately suggests that he is speaking to the Wind as though it were a
person. He calls the wind the “breath of Autumn’s being”, thereby further personifying the wind
and giving it the human quality of having breath. He describes the wind as having “unseen
presence” which makes it seem as though he views the wind as a sort of god or spiritual being.
The last line of this stanza specifically refers to the wind as a spiritual being that drives away death
and ghosts.

Stanza 2
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
This stanza describes the dead Autumn leaves. They are not described as colorful and beautiful,
but rather as a symbol of death and even disease. The speaker describes the deathly colors “yellow”
“black” and “pale”. Even “hectic red” reminds one of blood and sickness. He describes the dead
and dying leaves as “Pestilence stricken multitudes”. This is not a peaceful nor beautiful
description of the fall leaves. Rather, the speaker seems to see the fall leaves as a symbol of the
dead, the sick, and the dying. The wind then comes along like a chariot and carries the leaves “to
their dark wintry bed”, which is clearly a symbol of a grave.

Stanza 3
The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
The speaker continues the metaphor of the leaves as the dead by explaining that the wind carries
them and “winged seeds” to their graves, “where they lie cold and low”. The then uses a simile to
compare each leaf to “a corpse within its grave”. But then, part way through the second line, a shift
occurs. The speakers says that each is like a corpse “until” the wind comes through, taking away
the dead, but bringing new life. The use of the word “azure” or blue, to describe the wind is in
sharp contrast to the colors used to describe the leaves.

Stanza 4
Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:
With this stanza, the speaker describes the wind as something which drives away death, burying
the dead, and bringing new life. It brings “living hues” and “ordours” which are filled with new
life.

Stanza 5
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!
Here, the speaker again appeals to the wind, calling it a “wild spirit” and viewing it as a spiritual
being who destroys and yet also preserves life. He is asking this spirit to hear his pleas. He has not
yet made a specific request of the wind, but it is clear that he views it as a powerful spiritual being
which can hear him.

Canto 2
Stanza 1
Thou on whose stream, ‘mid the steep sky’s commotion,
Loose clouds like Earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,
Again, the speaker addresses the wind as a person, calling it the one who will “loose clouds” and
shake the leaves of the “boughs of Heaven and Ocean”. This reads almost as a Psalm, as if the
speaker is praising the wind for its power.

Stanza 2
Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
Again, the speaker refers to the wind as a spiritual being more powerful than angels, for the angels
“of rain and lightening” are described as being “spread on the blue surface” of the wind. He then
describes these angels as being “like the bright hair” on the head of an even greater being.

Stanza 3
Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith’s height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge
In this stanza, the speaker compares the wind to a “fierce Maenad” or the spiritual being that used
to be found around the Greek God, Dionysus. Remember, this is the being that was also described
as having hair like angels. Thus, the wind is described as a being like a god, with angels for hair.
These angels of rain and lightning reveal that a storm is on the way.

Stanza 4
Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre
Vaulted with all thy congregated might
The speaker then explains that the storm approaching is the impending doom of the dying year.

Stanza 5
Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear!
The speaker then describes the wind as the bringer of death. He has already described it as the
Destroyer. Here, he describes it as one who brings “black rain and fire and hail...” Then, to end
this Canto, the speaker again appeals to the wind, begging that it would hear him.

Canto 3
Stanza 1
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,
To begin this Canto, the speaker describes the wind as having woken up the Mediterranean Sea
from a whole summer of peaceful rest. The sea, here, is also personified.

Stanza 2
Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,
With this stanza, the speaker simply implies that the sea was dreaming of the old days of palaces
and towers, and that he was “quivering” at the memory of an “intenser day”.

Stanza 3
All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers
The speaker continues to describe the sea’s dreams as being of slower days, when everything was
overgrown with blue “moss and flowers”. Then, he hints that something is about to change when
he mentions to Atlantic’s “powers”.

Stanzas 4-5
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!
This stanza is in reference to the sea’s reaction to the power of the wind. At the first sign of the
strong wind, the sea seems to “cleave” into “chasms” and “grow grey with fear” as they tremble
at the power of the wind. Again, this stanza reflects a Psalm in worship of a god so mighty that
nature itself trembles in its sight.

Canto 4
Stanza 1
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
Here, the speaker finally brings his attention to himself. He imagines that he were a dead leaf
which the wind might carry away, or a cloud which the wind might blow. His things about what it
would be like to be a wave at the mercy of the power of the wind.

Stanza 2
The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O Uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
The speaker stands in awe of the wondrous strength of the wind. It seems to act on “impulse” and
its strength is “uncontrollable”. He then mentions his own childhood.

Stanza 3
The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne’er have striven
Here, the speaker seems to wonder whether the wind has gotten stronger since his childhood, or
whether he has simply become weaker. He thinks that when he was a boy, he may have been about
to “outstrip” the speed of the wind. And yet, his boyhood “seemed a vision”, so distant, and so
long ago. The speaker is clearly contrasting the strength of the wind to his own weakness that has
come upon him as he has aged.

Stanza 4
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
Here, the speaker finally comes to his request. Until now, he has been asking the wind to hear him,
but he has not made any specific requests. Now, he compares himself to a man “in prayer in [his]
sore need” and he begs the wind to “lift [him] as a wave, a leaf, a cloud”. He longs to be at the
mercy of the wind, whatever may come of it. In the final line, he refers to himself as one who is in
the final stages of his life when he says, “I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed”. Just like the wind
swept away the dead leaves of the Autumn, the speaker calls for the wind to sweep him away, old
and decaying as he is.

Stanza 5
A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.
The speaker says that the weight of all of his years of life have bowed him down, even though he
was once like the wind, “tame less…swift, and proud”.

Canto 5
Stanza 1
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Again, the speaker begs the wind to make him be at its mercy. He wants to be like a lyre (or harp)
played by the wind. He wants to be like the dead leaves which fall to the ground when the wind
blows.

Stanza 2
Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!
Here, the speaker asks the wind to come into him and make him alive. This is yet another reference
to the wind as a sort of god. In some religions, particularly the Christian religion, there is the belief
that to have new life, one must receive the Holy Spirit into his bodily being. This is precisely what
the speaker is asking the wind to do to him. He realizes that for this to happen, his old self would
be swept away. That is why he describes this as “sweet though in sadness”. But he asks the spirit
of the wind to be his own spirit, and to be one with him.

Stanza 3
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
The speaker asks the wind to “drive [his] dead thoughts over the universe” so that even as he dies,
others might take his thoughts and his ideas and give them “new birth”. He thinks that perhaps this
might even happen with the very words he is speaking now.

Stanza 4
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened Earth
The speaker asks the wind to scatter his thoughts as “ashes and sparks” that his words might kindle
a fire among mankind, and perhaps awaken the sleeping earth.

Stanza 5
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
The speaker has used spiritual and biblical references throughout the poem to personify the wind
as a god, but here he makes it a little more specific. When he says, “The trumpet of prophecy” he
is specifically referring to the end of the world as the Bible describes it. When the trumpet of
prophecy is blown, Christ is believed to return to earth to judge the inhabitants. The speaker asks
the Wind to blow that trumpet. Because of the speaker’s tone throughout the poem, it would make
sense if this was the speaker’s own personal trumpet, marking the end of his life. He wants the
wind to blow this trumpet. With the last two lines, the speaker reveals why he has begged the wind
to take him away in death. He says, “If Winter comes, can spring be far behind?” This reveals his
hope that there is an afterlife for him. He desperately hopes that he might leave behind his dying
body and enter into a new life after his death.

This poem is the finest example of pure poetry removed from any intellectual content. Being
essentially of the nature of a dream, it enchants by the loveliness of its color, artistic beauty, and
sweet harmony. Its vision is wrought out of the most various sources –oriented romance and travel
books. Its remote setting and its delicate imaginative realism renders it especially romantic. The
supernatural atmosphere is evoked chiefly through suggestion and association. The musical effect
of the poem is unsurpassed. The main appeal of the poem lies in its sound effects. The rhythm and
even the length of the lines are varied to produce subtle effects of harmony. The whole poem is
bound together by a network of alliteration, the use of liquid consonants, and onomatopoeia. The
judicious use of hard consonants has given occasionally the effect of force and harshness.
Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round;
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
In these lines from the poem Kubla Khan, the poet Samuel Tayler Coleridge narrates how Kubla
Khan ordered a stately pleasure house to be built and what was subsequently done to get it built.
Kubla Khan ordered the erection of a magnificent pleasure palace on the banks of the sacred river
‘Alph’ which flowed underground for a long distance through unfathomable caves into a sea where
the rays of the sun could no penetrate.
Accordingly, for this purpose, a plot of fertile land covering ten miles was enclosed with walls and
towers all around. On one side of this land, there were gardens full of aromatic trees where sweet-
smelling flowers bloomed. There were meandering streams flowing through these gardens making
the place exceedingly beautiful. On the other side of the land were thick primeval forests as old as
the hills within which there were plots of grassy land warmed by the rays of the sun.

Thus, Coleridge creates a vaguely but suggestive romantic palace. “In reading it “, Swinburne
observes about these artistic touches, “We are wrapped into that paradise where music and colour
and perfume are one; where you hear the hues and see the harmonies of heaven.”

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:
And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean;
And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
These are the most famous lines of Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan and have been highly
appreciated for the effortless adaptation of the sound and rhythm to the various parts of the
descriptions. While describing the beautiful grounds, the poet seems to have been attracted by the
most remarkable mysterious chasm which stretched across the hill covered with cedar trees. It
simply defied all descriptions. It was a highly romantic place and wore a mysterious aspect. It
seemed an enchanted place haunted by demons and fairiers and frequented by a disappointed lady-
love weeping for her demon-lover under the light of the fading moon.
The vagueness and mystery of this place suggested witchcraft and its practice as they are associated
with such surroundings. From this chasm a fountain gushed forth every moment so violently that
the trembling earth round about appeared like a man breathing hard while dying. It momentarily
threw up huge fragments of rock which tossed up and then fell to the ground in all directions like
hail stones from the sky or like chaff flying about when crushed with a flail.

From this chasm also sprang up the sacred river, Alph which flowed with a zig-zag course for five
miles through forest and valley and then fell into the calm and tranquil ocean through the
unfathomable caverns. As it fell into the ocean, it created a great roaring sound. In the midst of
this uproarious noise Kubla Khan heard the voices of his ancestors prophesying that the time was
near when he should indulge in ambitious wars. In the pleasure-house Kubla Khan became
addicted to luxury so his ancestors urged him to shake off his lethargic and luxurious life and be
ready to life of adventures and wars.
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
These lines further describe the charms of displayed by the pleasure palace of the emperor at
Zanadu. The pleasure-house of Kubla Khan was a very romantic and beautiful palace. The poet
here says that the reflection of the pleasure-dome fell between the fountains mingling with the
echoing sound coming out of the caves created for the onlooker an illusion of a really rhythmical
music. The palace was a construction of a rare design and a wonderful triumph of architecture as
it combined in itself a summer and a winter palace. The top of the building was warm because it
was open to sun while the low-lying chambers were kept cool by ice which never melted.
In the next lines Coleridge introduces a beautiful girl brought from a distant country, to complete
the picture of the romantic atmosphere. He says that once in his dream he saw a girl who was
brought from Abyssinia. She was singing of her native land Abyssinia and Mount Abora. The poet
means to suggest that her song showed homesickness. She had been brought from her country to
a distant land China and wanted to return home and to play freely and happily once more with
other girls of her country.

Could I revive within me

Her symphony and song,

To such a deep delight ’twould win me,

That with music loud and long,

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread

For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

These lines conclude the unfinished poem. When the poet saw an Abyssinian girl singing a
melodious song and producing exquisite melody on her dulcimer in the pleasure palace of Kubla
Khan, his imagination was seized by the great power of music. In these lines, he says that if he
could recall or learn the ravishing music of the Abyssinian girl, he would build the beautiful palace
of Kubla Khan in air. He would be filled with his swelling notes. Helped by his quickened
imagination he would be able to reconstruct the whole scene. The long practice of this divinely
inspired music will enable him to reproduce the whole palace in the air as beautiful and ethereal
as the palace of Kubla Khan together with its sunny dome and caves of ice.

His inspired imagination would create “a willing suspension of disbelief” and the readers would
feel that the entire beauty of the palace has been captured for them. They would be struck with
awe created by his flashing eyes, steaming hair and lips. His frenzied condition would frighten
them so much that they would guard themselves from coming into close contact with him. In order
to save themselves from being infected by his magical charm, they would confine him within a
magical circle three times. The poet has tasted the manna and nectar of divine poetic inspiration
and has developed a catching influence of music in his looks. In order to save themselves from the
effect of his charm they would shut their eyes.

TINTERN ABBEY BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

First Stanza
Lines 1-8
Five years have past; five summers, with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs
With a soft inland murmur.—Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
This piece begins with a twenty-two line stanza that introduces the setting, emotions, and main
themes of the poem. In the first lines the speaker, Wordsworth himself, makes clear that he has
returned a place he has not been for “Five years,” or “five summers,” the bank of the river Wye in
Derbyshire, England. These years that he has been apart from the landscape felt excruciating long.
As if they were made up entirely of “five long winters!”
Wordsworth has finally come back to where he can hear “again…These waters,” and see them
“rolling” down from the “mountain-springs.” These sounds that the speaker is hearing again for
the first time are romanticized and described as being a “soft inland murmur” as if whispering
voices are coming from somewhere farther “inland” than the speaker can see or detect.
He continues on to reiterate that he is “Once again…behold[ing]” this place. He is looking around
him and seeing steep cliffs. These cliffs are not just landmarks to admire but they force certain
emotions to surface. They bring to his mind the “Thoughts of… deep seclusion.” This idea of
finding peaceful seclusion in nature is not one at all unfamiliar to Wordsworth’s poetry. His status
as one of the greatest poets of the Romantic period is solidified by poems such as “Lines Composed
a Few Miles above…”
The whole environment around the speaker is unified in its peace and solitude. From the land to
the sky and everything in-between; he is permanent desiring a place within it.
Lines 9-18
The day is come when I again repose
Here, under this dark sycamore, and view
These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
‘Mid groves and copses. Once again I see
These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines
Of sportive wood run wild: these pastoral farms,
Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke
Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!
In the next section of this first long stanza, Wordsworth continues on to say that “The day” has
come where he can once more “repose,” or relax, under a “dark sycamore” tree that is growing
nearby. In this part of the landscape he currently is in, and is hoping to remain, there is a “plot”
that contains a “cottage” as well as “orchard-tufts.”
He is looking around at the fruit orchards and seeing the they are filled with yet “unripe fruits” and
all the leaves are composed of “one green hue.” Instead of standing out in contrast against the other
foliage, they are camouflaged and “lose themselves” amongst the “groves and copses,” or small
collections of trees. These orchards are a hint of what is to come. Change is always present and
even though the land appears the same as it did to the speaker five years ago, nothing ever truly
remains the same.
Wordsworth can see from his vantage point “hedge-rows,” lines and lines of small bushes that run
through the landscape. Additionally there are farms surrounding the property that run right up to
the door of the cottage. There are others that live in the surrounding areas and “wreaths of smoke”
are visible rising from the forest floor.
Lines 19-22
With some uncertain notice, as might seem
Of vagrant dwellers in the houseless woods,
Or of some Hermit’s cave, where by his fire
The Hermit sits alone.
This stanza concludes with four additional lines that expand on who may live in the environs. It
seems to Wordsworth that, although he is not certain, that “vagrant dwellers” or “hermits” live out
in the “houseless woods.” These homeless men sit “alone” in the woods; a state that the speaker
envies.
Second Stanza
Lines 1-9
These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye:
But oft, in lonely rooms, and ‘mid the din
Of towns and cities, I have owed to them,
In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;
And passing even into my purer mind
With tranquil restoration:—feelings too
In the second stanza, consisting of twenty-eight lines, the speaker describes how the images he is
now seeing anew have never truly left him.
Though the landscape has long been out of sight, he has not been separate from it. He describes it
as having not been to him “As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye.” The speaker has not completely
forgotten it or been blinded to it.
Often times, when he has been in “lonely rooms” in the middle of the “din / of towns and cities,”
the memories have come to him. He is able to revisit the landscape within his mind and find
comfort in it. It has brought him pleasure in times of “weariness.” Replacing frustration with
“sensations sweet” that penetrate to his “blood…and …heart.” These thoughts are even able to
possess his “purer mind” and bring it to a state of “tranquil restoration.”
Lines 10-19
Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,
As have no slight or trivial influence
On that best portion of a good man’s life,
His little, nameless, unremembered, acts
Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,
To them I may have owed another gift,
Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,
In which the burthen of the mystery,
In which the heavy and the weary weight
Of all this unintelligible world,
The stanza continues with Wordsworth describing how the memories bring him other
“unremembered pleasure[s].” Their presence helps other happy memories to surface that have no
“slight” or small, “influence / on…a good man’s life.” He needs these thoughts to continue on his
path of goodness and continue to help others in any way he can. They improve him as a human
being.
The next lines tell the reader what these happy thoughts might be. They could contain the times in
a “man’s life” that he committed acts of “kindness and of love.”
The speaker then turns to address nature itself. He says that he “may have owed” more to it than
he has yet returned. It gave him a spiritual gift that he is never going to be able to return, his
“blessed mood,” or aspect in which he lives. It helped, and helps, to alleviate the weight of the
world.
Lines 20-28
Is lightened:—that serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,—
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things.
Nature is going to affect the speaker for the rest of his life and even allow him to value the world,
and the spiritual peace he has found over his “corporeal frame.” When he is “laid asleep / in body”
he is able, through his “living soul,” to find a “harmony” and experience a “deep power of joy.”
This joy has allowed him to see deeper into life than others do. Because he is so deeply a part of
the natural world he can see “into the life of things.”
Third Stanza
If this
Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! How oft—
In darkness and amid the many shapes
Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir
Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,
Have hung upon the beatings of my heart—
How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee,
O sylvan Wye! thou wanderer thro’ the woods,
How often has my spirit turned to thee!
The third stanza of “Lines Composed a Few Miles above…” is shorter, consisting of only nine
lines. In this short stanza the speaker addresses the possibility that the interior world in which he
has been living could be “but a vain belief.” He could have been steadfast in his belief but, ignorant
of the fact that he was wrong.
This thought is only fleeting and he immediately turns from it to say, “Oh!” How can that possibly
be the case when in “darkness” and surrounded by “joyless daylight,” or days that bring the speaker
no joy even though they should, he has “turned to thee / O sylvan Wye!” He has depended on the
memories of this “sylvan” or wooded paradise on the river Wye when he has been disturbed by
the “fever of the world.” He is worshipful of this nature and contributes his peace and happiness
to how it has changed him.
Fourth Stanza
Lines 1-8
And now, with gleams of half-extinguished thought,
With many recognitions dim and faint,
And somewhat of a sad perplexity,
The picture of the mind revives again:
While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years. And so I dare to hope,
The fourth stanza of the poem, which runs for fifty-four lines, begins with Wordsworth professing
to a hope he holds for his current visit to this landscape. He describes how his mind is now
“gleam[ing]” with thoughts that are “dim” and “half-extinguished.” He is recalling how he felt
when he was here previously and that picture of his own being is being “revive[d]” once more.
The speaker is reentering the headspace that he was once existing in.
Additionally, he states that he hopes that from this visit he is able to gain “life and food / For future
years.” This trip will, he thinks, provide him with memories that will sustain him in all the dull
moments of life that are yet to come. He is re-nourishing his soul and inner paradise to which he
will escape.
Lines 9-18
Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first
I came among these hills; when like a roe
I bounded o’er the mountains, by the sides
Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams,
Wherever nature led: more like a man
Flying from something that he dreads, than one
Who sought the thing he loved. For nature then
(The coarser pleasures of my boyish days
And their glad animal movements all gone by)
To me was all in all.—I cannot paint
The speaker is “dar[ing] to hope” that even though he comes to this placed changed from when he
was here last, that everything will still be to him as it once was.
He remembers how when he first visited this landscape and “came among the hills” he was like a
“roe” in how he “bounded” over the rises and falls. He crossed “deep rivers” and followed nature
wherever it “led” him.
These actions he took were less like those taken by someone enamored by a new love, but more
like the wild, desperate decisions of a man escaping from something “he dreads.” When he was
here last he knew immediately how important this place was going to be to him and fled into the
hills in a futile attempt to completely escape from his own life.
At this time in his life, nature was to him, “all in all.” It was the end all and be all of his life. There
was nothing of greater value or importance to the speaker. This is the state of mind he is once more
seeking out.
Lines 19-28
What then I was. The sounding cataract
Haunted me like a passion: the tall rock,
The mountain, and the deep and gloomy wood,
Their colours and their forms, were then to me
An appetite; a feeling and a love,
That had no need of a remoter charm,
By thought supplied, not any interest
Unborrowed from the eye.—That time is past,
And all its aching joys are now no more,
And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this
He continues to attempt a description of how he was back them, but does not believe it will be
possible. Instead of giving the reader a straight forward description, he uses metaphors and
romanticized language to a paint a picture of the type of emotional and spiritual state he was in.
He was so consumed by the nature around him that he took it in like food. The narrator thrived on
“the tall rock, / The Mountain” and the dark woods around him. The feelings they created within
the speaker were exacting and precise. He knew where they came from and was content to see the
world as it was. He did not need fantasies or additions to the real world to make it more meaningful
to him. He did not need “a remoter charm” to entrance him.
The speaker is aching for the time when nature was truly all that he needed. He remembers the
joys, and how it created in him “dizzy rapture.” That time is sadly, “past.”
Lines 29-38
Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts
Have followed; for such loss, I would believe,
Abundant recompense. For I have learned
To look on nature, not as in the hour
Of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes
The still sad music of humanity,
Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power
To chasten and subdue.—And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime
Although the speaker is saddened by the change in his condition he is not depressed. He knows
that other pleasures “Have followed” and that he should not really “mourn” for the loss of the past.
He has been able to look through his base emotions and thoughts and see Nature not as he did
when he was a “thoughtless youth” but as something far more sustaining. He is older now, wiser,
and understands how important moments of are peace are for a life lived amongst humanity.
This new wisdom was enshrined in him when he “felt / A presence that disturbs” him with joyful,
“elevated thoughts.” He has felt the power of God, or Nature as God, in the world that surrounds
him. The narrator can take the memory of this “presence” and carry it within him.
Lines 39-48
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man:
A motion and a spirit, that impels
All thinking things, all objects of all thought,
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still
A lover of the meadows and the woods
And mountains; and of all that we behold
From this green earth; of all the mighty world
What the speaker feels of this new “presence” is much more powerful than what he held inside
him in the past. Before, he only took memory away with him when he left, now he has a belief that
is stronger than anything else. The “presence” that he feels is like “the light of setting suns” and
as powerful as “the round ocean,” air, and sky to the “mind of a man.” It is beyond comprehension
and therefore, unfading and undeterred by modernity.
The way in which he understands nature may have changed, but he is still a “lover” of it. He still
worships the “meadows and the woods” and is thrilled in all “that we behold / from this green
earth.”
He describes how nature fuels everything in the world, the world is entirely made of, and created
by nature. It “impels / All thinking things.” The speaker’s tone is reverential filled with deep
emotion. This tone will continue through the remaining lines of the poem as the speaker delves
deeper into why exactly the natural world is so meaningful to him.
Lines 49-54
Of eye, and ear,—both what they half create,
And what perceive; well pleased to recognise
In nature and the language of the sense
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul
Of all my moral being.
In the final lines of the fourth stanza the speaker describes how even though he, and others, are apt
through their sense, to hear and see things differently than how they truly are, he is still “well
pleased.” He thrills in the “language” of his own senses and considers nature to be the “guardian”
of his “heart,” and the steadfast supporter of his “purest thoughts.” It has been to him a “guide” as
well as a “nurse.” Finally, he states, it is the “soul” of his morality. Just as the Christian God helps
determine what is right and wrong for many around the world, Nature serves this purpose for the
narrator.
Fifth Stanza
Lines 1-10
Nor perchance,
If I were not thus taught, should I the more
Suffer my genial spirits to decay:
For thou art with me here upon the banks
Of this fair river; thou my dearest Friend,
My dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch
The language of my former heart, and read
My former pleasures in the shooting lights
Of thy wild eyes. Oh! yet a little while
May I behold in thee what I was once,
The emotion that the reader glimpsed at the end of the last stanza is sustained through the
remainder of the poem.
The speaker begins this section by stating that he will never “Suffer [his] genial spirits to decay”
due to the fact that he now understands Nature. The beliefs he harbors within him are permanent.
They are there with him at this present moment as he stands “upon the banks” of a river looking
out on this place he loves.
At this point in the poem the narration takes a turn as it becomes clear that there is someone else
with the speaker. He has not been thinking allowed but explaining himself to someone near. He
calls her, “thou my dearest Friend.” She is to him as close as another person can be and he felt the
need to explain to her how he has come to be the way that he is.
He listens to her as she speaks and feels the catch of his “heart.” He sees how he used to be and
remembers his “former pleasures” as he looks into her “wild eyes.” Wordsworth is able, through
only a short glance, is able to see in her the person he once was.
It also becomes completely clear at this time, if the reader was not yet convinced, that the speaker
is Wordsworth himself.
Lines 11-24
My dear, dear Sister! and this prayer I make,
Knowing that Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her; ’tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy: for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life,
Shall e’er prevail against us, or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all which we behold
Is full of blessings. Therefore let the moon
He is, in this tender moment, directing his monologue to his sister, Dorothy. They are
extraordinarily close and he wishes to share with her his adoration for Nature.
The next line of the poem is one of its most important and frequently quoted.
Knowing that Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her;
He is searching for a way to make his sister understand that placing your heart within the hands of
Nature is without risk. It cannot break your heart or shatter your faith. Nature will, through the
years of one’s life, lead a devotee from “joy to joy” and “impress” upon one “quietness and
beauty.” Her life, he states, will be full of “lofty thoughts” that carry one above the “sneers” of the
modern world. One will no longer be bothered by the “dreary intercourse of daily life.” There will
truly be nothing with the ability to disturb one’s peace. “We” will forever know that “our” life is
“full of blessings”
Lines 25-36
Shine on thee in thy solitary walk;
And let the misty mountain-winds be free
To blow against thee: and, in after years,
When these wild ecstasies shall be matured
Into a sober pleasure; when thy mind
Shall be a mansion for all lovely forms,
Thy memory be as a dwelling-place
For all sweet sounds and harmonies; oh! then,
If solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,
Should be thy portion, with what healing thoughts
Of tender joy wilt thou remember me,
And these my exhortations! Nor, perchance—
At this point the poem is starting to conclude. Wordsworth wants to make sure that his sister knows
that if this is the life that she desires, she should “let the moon” shine on her during her walks. She
should feel the “mountain-winds” on her skin and not resist them.
When, Wordsworth says, one has lived this way for a long time, the natural world will become a
part of one’s life, guiding all decisions and choices of morality. He states that she will never forget
this place and it will become a paradise for “all sweet sounds and harmonies.” When all of this
happens, and if she was to fall into “solitude, or fear, or pain, or grief,” hopefully, he implores,
“Thou [will] remember me” and everything that has been said.
Lines 37-44
If I should be where I no more can hear
Thy voice, nor catch from thy wild eyes these gleams
Of past existence—wilt thou then forget
That on the banks of this delightful stream
We stood together; and that I, so long
A worshipper of Nature, hither came
Unwearied in that service: rather say
With warmer love—oh! with far deeper zeal
If, Wordsworth says, “I” have died and moved somewhere where “I no more can hear / Thy voice”
hopefully she will not forget that “We stood together” on the banks of the Wye. This place is
important as it is where Nature came to both the speaker and his listener. This place, Wordsworth
says, should fill the future with even “holier love.” The speaker says that nature will “create” in
the listener a “far deeper zeal” for the goodness of life. His sister will not be run down my “dreary”
normalcy.
Lines 45-49
Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget,
That after many wanderings, many years
Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs,
And this green pastoral landscape, were to me
More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake!
The last five lines of the poem are spent in finalizing the speaker’s thoughts on how the future
should go. He does not want his sister to ever forget what he has told her, nor what she herself has
felt by the river. He wants her to remember how important she and the landscape around them are
to him and says that even though he has been gone from this place for so long, it is dear to him. It
is valuable in its own right and because it is giving the same gift it gave to him to her.