Student Question
Why are the figures on the urn in Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" called a "leaf fringed legend"?
Quick answer:
The figures on the urn in Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" are called a "leaf fringed legend" because the urn's story is depicted within a decorative border of leaves. The word "legend" refers to both the ancient story told by the urn and something inscribed or written. Keats uses rich, layered meanings to convey the urn's perpetual narrative.
It might be helpful, too, to think about other possible meanings of the word "legend" in John Keats' poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn." The preceding lines do seem to point toward this standard meaning -- see the references to the "sylvan historian" and the "flowery tale" -- but the word can refer to more than just ancient stories. "Legend" can also mean something written, something inscribed, or something to be read. The power of poetry often likes in the rich layerings of meaning.
In the first stanza of "Ode on a Grecian Urn," John Keats establishes the
context of his poem. The Grecian urn has a story told in the painted
decorations spanning round it. A common practice was to frame the urn or the
story on the urn in a leaf motif. Images of urns are available at Webshots.com
and Fotosearch.com . If you look at these, you'll...
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see the leaf motif (repeated paintings of leaves) on both, though each urn has the motif presented in very different ways (and the two stories painted round the urns are also very different from each other).
A legend is a story. A fringe is a decorative border or an outer edge of
something. The expression "leaf-fringed" refers to a decorative border or an
outer edge of leaves. The word "haunts" can mean to remain consistently (like a
painting on an ancient Grecian urn). So now we have a different understanding
of Keats' lines 5 and 6: These lines may now be paraphrased as: What story is
perpetually told in a leafy border motif around this urn's shape? Is it of
gods, mortals or both? And we can also see that poetry says very much using
fewer words in comparison to prose (non-poetry).
I believe Keats uses this phrase to emphasize that he does not really know what the scenes on the urn were meant to represent.
In the next few lines, he twice asks whether the figures on the urn are mortal or gods. So it is important to note that the words you mention are part of a question. He is asking if the leaf fringed (because there are trees and such painted on the urn) figures are part of a legend and if so, what legend.
So he uses these words (and the questions around them) to show that he is really not sure what the scenes on the urn are meant to represent.