<P> The audience is limited in its ability to comprehend the eternal scene, but the silent urn is still able to speak to them . The story it tells is both cold and passionate, and it is able to help mankind . The poem concludes with the urn's message: </P> <P> When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou sayst, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,"--that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know . (lines 46--50) </P> <P> Like many of Keats's odes, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" discusses art and art's audience . He relied on depictions of natural music in earlier poems, and works such as "Ode to a Nightingale" appeal to auditory sensations while ignoring the visual . Keats reverses this when describing an urn within "Ode on a Grecian Urn" to focus on representational art . He previously used the image of an urn in "Ode on Indolence", depicting one with three figures representing Love, Ambition and Poesy . Of these three, Love and Poesy are integrated into "Ode on a Grecian Urn" with an emphasis on how the urn, as a human artistic construct, is capable of relating to the idea of "Truth". The images of the urn described within the poem are intended as obvious depictions of common activities: an attempt at courtship, the making of music, and a religious rite . The figures are supposed to be beautiful, and the urn itself is supposed to be realistic . Although the poem does not include the subjective involvement of the narrator, the description of the urn within the poem implies a human observer that draws out these images . The narrator interacts with the urn in a manner similar to how a critic would respond to the poem, which creates ambiguity in the poem's final lines: "' Beauty is truth, truth beauty,'--that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know ." The lack of a definite voice of the urn causes the reader to question who is really speaking these words, to whom they are speaking, and what is meant by the words, which encourages the reader to interact with the poem in an interrogative manner like the narrator . </P> <P> As a symbol, an urn cannot completely represent poetry, but it does serve as one component in describing the relationship between art and humanity . The nightingale of "Ode to a Nightingale" is separated from humanity and does not have human concerns . In contrast, being a piece of art, the urn requires an audience and is in an incomplete state on its own . This allows the urn to interact with humanity, to put forth a narrative, and allows for the imagination to operate . The images on the urn provoke the narrator to ask questions, and the silence of the urn reinforces the imagination's ability to operate . This interaction and use of the imagination is part of a greater tradition called ut pictura poesis--the contemplation of art by a poet--which serves as a meditation upon art itself . In this meditation, the narrator dwells on the aesthetic and mimetic features of art . The beginning of the poem posits that the role of art is to describe a specific story about those with whom the audience is unfamiliar, and the narrator wishes to know the identity of the figures in a manner similar to "Ode on Indolence" and "Ode to Psyche". The figures on the urn within "Ode on a Grecian Urn" lack identities, but the first section ends with the narrator believing that if he knew the story, he would know their names . The second section of the poem, describing the piper and the lovers, meditates on the possibility that the role of art is not to describe specifics but universal characters, which falls under the term "Truth". The three figures would represent how Love, Beauty, and Art are unified together in an idealised world where art represents the feelings of the audience . The audience is not supposed to question the events but instead to rejoice in the happy aspects of the scene in a manner that reverses the claims about art in "Ode to a Nightingale". Similarly, the response of the narrator to the sacrifice is not compatible with the response of the narrator to the lovers . </P>

What is the poem ode on a grecian urn about