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Platonism in Keats's 'Ode on a Grecian Urn.'

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From: Philological Quarterly
Date: 19960101
Author:Kennedy, Thomas C.

John Keats's 'Ode on a Grecian Urn' was likely influenced by Platonic philosophy, though Keats chose to demonstrate beauty rather than inquire about it. Keats's letters to his friend Benjamin Bailey around the time Keats wrote the poem demonstrate a lengthy discussion about Plato and Socrates, and how beauty and truth were linked. The poem demonstrates imagination and esthetic response which were Keats's qualities, not Plato's.

John Keats visited his friend, Benjamin Bailey, at Oxford University in the early fall of 1817. On 22 November 1817, Keats wrote to Bailey: "What the imagination ...

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