a wood that tells a tale of history. Presumably because of her beauty, he says she tells her history "more sweetly" than can his poem, his "rhyme."

Then Keats begins asking questions. We don't know if his questions are mere random speculations or if they indirectly represent what he is looking at or perhaps mentally envisioning. It has been suggested that Keats is actually thinking of a compilation of many urns he has seen in books and at the British Museum, which he visited in 1816. We can tell a few things about the urn--whether imagined, compiled from recollections or seen--that he is describing. First Keats focuses our attention to the "shape" of the bride that is there and the images in the tale or "legend that haunts" about her, images that are over-topped by a leafy garland embellishing the urn, which is "leaf-fringed."

He asks about other shapes on the urn, wondering if they are gods or "mortals." He imagines the scene in the picturesque locations of the Valley of Tempe at the northeast coast of Greece or in Arcady in the southwest peninsula of Greece. He wonders who the "men" and "gods" might be. Might the men be the brides brothers, father and uncles, neighbors? Might the gods be Hymen, the god of weddings, and some local deities? We assume that the scene Keats describes has a collection of shapes that might be "men" or "gods." This supposes a rather large urn and complex scene.

Maidens who are "loth" [archaic spelling for "loath"] are maidens who are strongly reluctant to proceed with something. Perhaps these "loth" maidens are bashful young girls who are engaged in the bridal ceremony and "loth" to be seen so prominently. But what "mad pursuit" could Keats be thinking of, and what "struggle to escape?" Could it be that the bachelors attending the groom's wedding day are out of control and descending on more mature, teen-aged, "loth" maidens who are accompanying the bride and who are struggling to escape the bachelors?

Whoever these shapes are, they are in company with a seemingly large group of pipers and timbrel players. "What wild ecstasy" suggests dancing and frolicking with "loth" maidens" who "struggle to escape" overzealous bachelors. Yet while Keats calls these images to mind, he never returns to them, so we don't know if they are part of the scene or only part of his musings inspired by a more orderly and less complicated scene. We have to expand the scene contemplated from the items specified in the questions or discount the questions as random speculations. Personally, I enjoy the "Grecian Urn" more if I imagine that the "mad pursuit" and "wild ecstasy" of frolicking dancing to pipes and timbrels with "loth" maidens who "struggle to escape" are part of the scene on the urn.

There is a great deal of evidence that supports Keats talking directly to the Urn. First of all, he begins with "Thou" directly addressing the Urn in line one and he repeats "thou" again in line two. Next, still in Stanza One,the poet asks questions of the Urn, as if he were holding a conversation with it, making an inanimate object appear alive: "In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?...What wild ecstasy?"

Interestingly enough, as the Ode progresses, the poet directly addresses the figures on the Urn. He tells the fair youth to "Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tune" in Stanza Two, and then directs his conversation to the Bold Lover. Keats continues in this vein in Stanza Three as he discusses the tree boughs and the permanence of youthful love as it is portrayed on the Urn.

Again, in Stanza Four, the poet once more asks questions of the Urn:"Who are these coming to the sacrifice?...and why is the citadel "...emptied of its folk, this pious morn?" Again, the rhetorical questions emphasize the conversation the poet holds with the Urn. Fair proof of Keats talking to the Urn!

Keats neatly sandwiches his stanzas between the first and last lines which both address the urn:  Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,  and  O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede...Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity

The first stanza is an introduction, addressing the urn itself.  Who are these people and what are they doing on your sides? What can it mean for those of us just now laying eyes upong you?

The second stanza introduces the theme of imagination, but by addressing the musician on the urn.  The music we can all hear may not be liked by everyone, but the music we imagine will please us all simply because we imagine that which we like. 

The third stanza addresses the lover, the musician, the trees which will forever remain in love, young, playing without tiring, and full of green leaves for eternity.  There is nothing to worry about here in this stanza...no sunburn, parched tongue, or broken hearts.

The fourth stanza questions the priest leading the cow to sacrifice and the absent townspeople about where they are going and what they will do, which all leads to the question: What is the truth about all of this?  We can see and appreciate the beauty, as will many to come.  "Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty,"—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.