The narrator of the poem speaks directly to the Grecian urn, using a poetic device called apostrophe, which is when a speaker talks to something that is not alive and cannot respond or someone that is not present or living and cannot respond. In this case, the apostrophe sort of functions like personification in that the speaker addresses the urn, calling it "Thou" (an archaic form of "you") and asking it questions as though it could talk back which, of course, it cannot. Thus, the "unravish'd bride of quietness" in the first line of the poem is actually the Grecian urn itself, and the speaker calls it that because time has not ravished—or destroyed—it. Despite the hundreds of years since its creation, it continues to exist with its sylvan scenes. In addition, it does not speak (it may convey information, but it is silent), and this makes it the "bride of quietness."
No comments:
Post a Comment