In the first place, the assertions in the stanza are largely generated by repetition, but these assertions, taken cumulatively, call themselves into question; the reader begins to think that the poet protests too much.David A. Kent "On the Third Stanza of Keats's 'Ode on a Grecian Urn'"
"The lady doth protest too much" - William Shakespeare Hamlet
Protesting too much: wanting to get exactly what it is you are protesting against. If Keats is protesting too much, those statements of repetition are exactly what they are meant to be. How is that for irony Brooks?
Posted by Diana Geleskie at February 19, 2007 10:36 PM | TrackBack