Truth, beauty, and Keats-- what will (and must) remain




Good morning, loyal blog readers!

I'm sure we all have plenty roiling in our brains besides poems. I'm trying to erect firm boundaries, to box up the disbelief and horror, and much of the time, they hold. That doesn't mean that I'm ignoring things, but my mental and physical health require respite. 

One of my favorite poets of all time is Keats. His poems speak to my soul in a way that other poets' work doesn't, and I cannot honestly say why. I love his earnestness, I think, the most. One poem I cannot live without is "Ode on a Grecian Urn." I read it over and over, and have done for years. But yet, I see new things every time I turn the urn with the speaker in the poem. The pathos is almost palpable:

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
       Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
       Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone

And of course, there's the ending, which contains a deeply philosophical
statement:
When old age shall this generation waste,
                Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
         "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
                Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."

Yes, things of eternal value will remain, long after us, after the turmoil and 
muck of things as they stand right now. I don't know how this present time 
will end up (though I have deep fears), but I also know that beauty and
Truth will --and must-- remain.

Have a good day,
C


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