The speaker is inquisitive about what "legend " this "historian " holds and begins to examine the urn and, on it, its beings that will forever present their unchanged stories for all eternity.
This poem "contrasts the timeless world of the urn with the upside-down hourglass that is human life (Shmoop). A major theme in this work is transience. Keats explores this through the moments of "ecstatic union "displayed through the three stories etched onto the sides of the urn. While the speaker is trying to decipher the first image, Keats is cleverly telling us the story. The first story is that of a group of young men lustfully chasing after a group of young women. Although lines 26 and 27 are usually tied with the second story, it can be applied to both love stories documented on the urn. He explains to the men that the moment they are experiencing is truly the peak of their excitement through the line "For ever warm and still to be enjoy'd, For ever panting and for ever young " (26-27). .
The second story is that of the young man playing his pipe under a tree for his lover. The speaker finds much in common with the "youth " because they are both artists. The speaker claims, "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on." (11-12). The speaker believes that "their (he and the youth's) music is directed not at the ears but to the inner 'spirit'" (Shmoop). The speaker prefers what his imagination can produce -- it will never lose its newness unlike music that lives in the material world. The speaker explains the "moment of ecstasy " to the young piper by explaining that he is truly living in his own garden of Eden -- unaffected by the seasons, eternally young and immune to the damage passing years can bring (15-16, 21-22). Not only will he and his surroundings never fade, but never will the love of his eternally youthful lady (19-20). This can be analyzed in two ways.
