l. [61]. Thou . . . Bird. Because, so far as we are concerned, the nightingale we heard years ago is the same as the one we hear to-night. The next lines make it clear that this is what Keats means.
l. [64]. clown, peasant.
l. [67]. alien corn. Transference of the adjective from person to surroundings. Cf. Eve of St. Agnes, l. [16]; Hyperion, iii. [9].
ll. [69-70]. magic . . . forlorn. Perhaps inspired by a picture of Claude's, 'The Enchanted Castle,' of which Keats had written before in a poetical epistle to his friend Reynolds—'The windows [look] as if latch'd by Fays and Elves.'
[Page 112]. l. [72]. Toll. To him it has a deeply melancholy sound, and it strikes the death-blow to his illusion.
l. [75]. plaintive. It did not sound sad to Keats at first, but as it dies away it takes colour from his own melancholy and sounds pathetic to him. Cf. [Ode on Melancholy]: he finds both bliss and pain in the contemplation of beauty.
ll. [76-8]. Past . . . glades. The whole country speeds past our eyes in these three lines.
NOTES ON THE ODE ON A GRECIAN URN.
This poem is not, apparently, inspired by any one actual vase, but by many Greek sculptures, some seen in the British Museum, some known only from engravings. Keats, in his imagination, combines them all into one work of supreme beauty.