Bruce King is the author of several books re lating to literature and is a freelance writer and poetry critic. In the following essay, King considers and draws conclusions based upon the words in Keats's poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn," much like Keats himself meditated on the urn to explore his own emotions.

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" was written in May of 1819 when Keats was 23 years old and his life was in emotional turmoil. In the previous six months his brother Tom had died, and he had met and fallen in love with Fanny Brawne who, at the time the poem was written, lived next door to him in Hamstead. It was a period of intense creativity during which Keats wrote his great odes; in them, he explored his emotions by addressing, describing and questioning some idea or symbol that he celebrated. Keats's odes are...