Analysis Pages
Rhyme in Ode on a Grecian Urn
For the five odes Keats composed in 1819—“Ode on a Grecian Urn” included—he devised a new style, with a unique structure and rhyme scheme. Each ode consists of five ten-line stanzas. Each stanza begins with an ABAB quatrain, followed by a variable sestet. In “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” the first and fifth stanzas end with CDEDCE, the second ends with CDECED, and the third and fourth end with CDECDE. This tight, though somewhat shifting, structure allows Keats to play with the final lines of each stanza.