On Seeing the Elgin Marbles: Mortality

 

    This has probably been one of, if not my favorite poems by Keats. I became more familiar with Keats last semester in Romanticism, however, we did not read ‘On Seeing the Elgin Marbles’. This poem is very melancholy and depressing, but I think that's what I like about it. The speaker is very fearful of death and dying before they can leave their mark. The speaker is looking at please beautiful marble statues and seeing what time has done to them and the damage it has caused. The speaker then becomes aware that with time comes change, and sometimes that change isn't always good. This poem really focuses on the themes of time and mortality, highlighting that time is constantly passing us by and death is inevitable. The beauty of the Elgin Marbles makes the speaker notice how weak his spirit is in comparison, and that he is not immortal. The Marbles are symbolic of the peak artistic achievement an artist can reach and the inevitability of death. Keats explores mortality especially artistic mortality in a very beautiful way. While viewing the marbles he becomes aware that art does not stay the same forever, with time there is either decay or change of translation. The original piece does not stay the same either in appearance or interpretation.