John Keats looks at the scenes painted on an ancient Greek vase (lovers, musicians, a village sacrifice) and wonders about art, time and beauty, ending with the famous line "Beauty is truth, truth beauty." This free worksheet has the full poem with numbered lines, vocabulary, five discussion questions, a writing prompt and an answer key. No signup needed.
Grades 11–12 · Common Core RL.11-12.4, RL.11-12.2, RL.11-12.5 · US Letter PDF, with an answer key on the last page
What’s on the worksheet
Keats wrote the ode in May 1819, one of several great odes he wrote that year, and it was published in 1820. It has five ten-line stanzas. The speaker addresses the urn directly, an example of apostrophe, and contrasts the frozen moments on the urn with real human life, which changes and fades.
Vocabulary
- unravish'd: untouched, pure
- sylvan: of the woods or countryside
- Tempe / Arcady: idealized landscapes of ancient Greece
- timbrels: tambourines
- unwearied: never tired
- heifer: a young cow
- Attic: from Athens; classical Greek
- brede: an embroidered or woven pattern
- Cold Pastoral: a cold, unchanging scene of country life
Discussion questions
- What does the speaker call the urn in the first two lines, and why?
- "Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter." What does he mean?
- What is good about the lovers being frozen on the urn? What is sad about it?
- In stanza 4, what is strange or troubling about the little town?
- What do you think "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" means? Do you agree?
Writing prompt
Choose a photograph or painting. Write a poem of 10–14 lines speaking directly to it, imagining what happened just before and just after the moment it captured.
The answer key is included in the PDF, on its own page for teachers.