Keats' "On Seeing the elgin marbles"

It is tempting to look at a poem like John Keats’ “On Seeing The Elgin Marbles” and classify it with his numerous other poems that dwell on growing old and dying. “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” certainly can be read as a poem that is primarily preoccupied with the idea of mortality. However, with this particular poem, Keats seems to consciously writing with the intent of presenting an alternate meaning to the reader. If we …

…clearly an incredibly talented writer, and that is why he wrote “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” as poem that purposefully did not fulfill its intention of merely describing the beauty of a work of art. Instead, Keats left us with something much more interesting and multi-faceted: a glimpse into the psychology of the poem’s speaker. Works Cited Rothenberg, Jacob. Descensus ad terram: The Acquisition and Reception of the Elgin Marbles. New York: Garland, 1977) 444-45.