Ode on a Grecian Urn Figures of Speech

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Ode on a Grecian Urn poem by John Keats is considered to be his masterpiece. As many of the universities and scholars have considered it the masterpiece. For the first time this poem was published anonymously in ‘Annals of the Fine Arts’ for 1819. Here in this article we are going to discuss ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn Figures of Speech’.

This poem is one of the Six Great Odes of Keats. In this poem the poet addresses the ancient Greek urn and describes the pictures carved on it.

Figures of Speech enhance the beauty of the poem. Here are given some of the Figures of Speech used in this poem –

Ode on a Grecian Urn Figures of Speech:

  1. Thou unravish’d bride of quietness – Metaphor, apostrophe, personification
  2. Thou foster child of silence and slow time – Metaphor, apostrophe, personification, transfer epithet , assonance, paradox
  3. Sylvan historian – Metaphor
  4. A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme – Metaphor, apostrophe
  5. Leaf fringed legend – Pun
  6. Pipes and timbrels – Metonymy
  7. Ye soft pipes – Transfer epithet, metaphor, pun, metonymy, apostrophe
  8. Ditties of no tone – Paradox, apostrophe
  9. Happy, happy boughs – Personification
  10. A heart, a burning forehead, parching tongue – Synecdoche
  11. What leaf fring’d legend haunts about thy shape – Apostrophe
  12. Bold lover, never, can’s thou kiss – Apostrophe
  13. O Attic shape – Apostrophe
  14. To what green altar, O mysterious priest – Personification
  15. Peaceful citadel – Oxymoron
  16. Parching tongue – Synecdoche
  17. Unravished bride – Metaphor
  18. Burning forehead – Metonymy
  19. Forever panting, forever young – Anaphora
  20. O mysterious priest – Apostrophe

What are Figures of Speech?

Figures of speech are words or group of words or we can say them phrases that enhance the beauty of the poem, they are used in order to achieve special meaning or effect. Figurative language language has been divided into two classes; (i) figures of thought (ii) figures of speech

Some examples of Figures of Speech

(i) Simile (ii) Metaphor (iii) Conceit (iv) Personification (v) Alliteration (vi) Hyperbole (vii) Onomatopoeia (viii) Irony (ix) Metonymy (x) Antithesis (xi) Anaphora (xii) Assonance

Simile: A simile is a figure of speech or poetic device that compares two different things or objects using words; like or as. If the compared things are of same category there is no simile but there is only comparison.

As given in example:

  1. As white as snow
  2. As light as feather
  3. As easy as ABC
  4. As long as life
  5. As fit as fiddle
  6. As mad as a hatter
  7. As cold as ice
  8. As blue as sky
  9. As black as coal
  10. As clear as crystal

Ode on a Grecian Urn Poem Explanation

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