no tone

Directing his muse to a Greek artifact in Ode to a Grecian Urn, John Keats espouses the power of the ineffable. A story is told on the urn, but words fail to grasp its totality; "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/Are sweeter." As a part of an ancient culture and Golden Age, the words that are used to vitalize the story of the urn fail to encapsulate the grandeur of the piece; there is an inherent sense of fragmentation that debunks the power of language. Hence, it makes sense that Keats begins the poem by calling the urn a "still unravish'd bride of quietness." The radiance of the Urn achieves the strongest power when it can shine by itself; it does not need to be lauded or have its story retold (which accounts for the irony of the poem's existence). Instead, "the foster child of Silence" retains its own autonomy. It canst thus express/A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme." The relation of the urn to silence rests in the skepticism Keats has to the senses. The sensual being cannot achieve the purity of the incomprehensible. For a poet in the 19th century, the greatness of the ancient Greeks is virtually unknowable in its complete form; illustrations (such as the urn) provide a glimpse into this world of virtue. Thus, when Keats writes: " ye soft pipes, play on;/Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,/Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone" he is attempting to glean from the power of the urn, although he realizes that the most effective medium is of "no tone", a contemplative and reflective state where words are paradoxically ineffective.