beauty is truth, truth beauty

[mohsinmalik82]

hello sir...

can you plz explain me that what does john keats mean by his quotation

beauty is truth, truth beauty.

in his famous odes.???

plz explain it for me in easy words with example if you can...

i shall be thankful to you...

[Anglika]

Originally Posted by mohsinmalik82

hello sir...

Can you please explain to me what John Keats meant by his quotation

Beauty is truth, Truth beauty.

in his famous ode???

Please explain it for me in easy words with example if you can...

I shall be thankful to you...

Keats is suggesting that something that is beautiful contains an essential truthfulness [an essential honesty], and that Truth is itself a thing of beauty.

[stuartnz]

Originally Posted by Anglika

Keats is suggesting that something that is beautiful contains an essential truthfulness [an essential honesty], and that Truth is itself a thing of beauty.

I'm not a teacher, but I'd second Anglika's succinct summary, and suggest that the idea Keats expressed has been explored by many artists since. One of Raj Kapoor's last films, for example, Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram also explores that link between truth and beauty. Ever since I first saw that film, I have thought that Kapoor may have been referencing Keats in the title.

[BobK]

Incidentally, 'his quotation' is a bit inaccurate (in a way that bothers me rather more than it should!); it's a line frequently quoted from one of his works. Besides, si monumentum requiris circumspice to quote the memorial to Christopher Wren - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia set in the floor of St Paul's Cathedral: "if you're looking for a monument, look around you". OK, in that case the monument is a real concrete thing; but when Horace (?) wrote exegi monumentum, he was referring to a body of literary work. I think the same applies to Keats.

So while I applaud Anglika's answer for its clarity and conciseness, I think there's no substitute for reading the words in their context to find out what an author 'meant'.