ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

Ode on a Grecian Urn 29463 Views


Share It!


Description:

Ode on a Californian Shmoop.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:09

Ode on a Grecian Urn, a la Shmoop.

00:18

Are we in love with our technology? Are we whispering sweet nothings to our smart phones? [Angel shoots woman with heart arrows]

00:24

Just like Keats did with his Grecian Urn?

00:28

Well, the urn represented history. These days we get our history built right into our web browsers.

00:35

It's that thing you delete right before your parents check your computer. [Boy deleting computer history and parents appear]

00:40

Remember that haircut you posted three years ago? It's not going anywhere.

00:47

Now imagine that hairdo painted on the side of an urn for hundreds of years.

00:52

The story painted on the side of the urn was perfect. [Urn with painting of woman on the side]

00:55

It was an idealized version of reality. TV has been doing this for years.

01:05

Now we're doing it ourselves.

01:09

We're showing people the best parts and sometimes the worst parts [Person taking photo of fish]

01:18

whenever we post online.

01:21

We're building our own romanticized stories, making our own modern day urns. [Person logging into urnbook]

01:27

Are there any modern-day Keats pondering our place? Keats wrote that eventually, though, the urn's

01:32

beauty would fade. Then it would decay and break down, its story lost. [Urn smashes]

01:41

Eventually, our phones and tablets would become obsolete, too. Even a trip to the Smart Bar won't save them.

01:49

That once must-have gadget will be old news. [Phone with white wings]

01:56

Its story, our stories, might be lost,

01:59

too. Do we objectify, idealize our phones and tablets just like Keats did with his Grecian

02:06

Urn? Will our stories last as long as those on the urn? Only time will tell. Shmoop amongst

02:12

yourselves.

Up Next

The Giver Summary
105893 Views

Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...

Related Videos

The Importance of Being Earnest Summary
123040 Views

They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...

Invisible Man (Ellison)
1818 Views

Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
1257 Views

Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...

Quotes: A fool's paradise
296 Views

Find out the meaning behind "a fool's paradise."