English Literature / Unit 13 ENL 1223 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"Beauty Is Truth, Truth Beauty"
Captions available
The idea
The ode ends with the urn's message, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know." Twentieth-century critics debated these lines; one called them "a serious blemish on a beautiful poem." Who speaks the final clause is also disputed.
In practice
The urn's message, and the debate.
Where people slip
Treat the ending as contested.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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