Ode to a Grecian Urn- summary

Summary of Ode to a Grecian Urn In the first stanza, the speaker, standing before an ancient Grecian urn, addresses the urn, preoccupied with its depiction of pictures frozen in time. It is the "still unravish'd bride of quietness," the "foster-child of silence and slow time." He also describes the urn as a "historian," which can tell a story. He wonders about the figures on the side of the urn, and asks what legend they …

…intimately connected as the twined flowers in the fields. What makes "To Autumn" beautiful is that it brings an engagement with that connection out of the realm of mythology and fantasy and into the everyday world. The development the speaker so strongly resisted in "Indolence" is at last complete: he has learned that an acceptance of mortality is not destructive to an appreciation of beauty, and has gleaned wisdom by accepting the passage of time.