"On Seeing the Elgin Marbles" is the English poet John Keats's reflection on art and mortality. In this sonnet, a speaker feels both awestruck and mournful at the sight of the Elgin Marbles, the great Greek statues housed in the British Museum. The enduring power and beauty of these ancient sculptures remind the speaker that he's comparatively puny and doomed to one day die. But the statues are also looking pretty banged-up themselves; they're only a "shadow" of the "Grecian grandeur" they depict. Even the very greatest art (and the greatest artists), the poem thus suggests, are still subject to time and decay. The poem first appeared in the London newspaper The Examiner in 1817, not long after the Elgin Marbles first went on display.
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The Full Text of “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles”
1My spirit is too weak—mortality
2 Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep,
3 And each imagined pinnacle and steep
4Of godlike hardship, tells me I must die
5Like a sick eagle looking at the sky.
6 Yet ’tis a gentle luxury to weep
7 That I have not the cloudy winds to keep,
8Fresh for the opening of the morning’s eye.
9Such dim-conceived glories of the brain
10 Bring round the heart an undescribable feud;
11So do these wonders a most dizzy pain,
12 That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude
13Wasting of old time—with a billowy main—
14 A sun—a shadow of a magnitude.
The Full Text of “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles”
1My spirit is too weak—mortality
2 Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep,
3 And each imagined pinnacle and steep
4Of godlike hardship, tells me I must die
5Like a sick eagle looking at the sky.
6 Yet ’tis a gentle luxury to weep
7 That I have not the cloudy winds to keep,
8Fresh for the opening of the morning’s eye.
9Such dim-conceived glories of the brain
10 Bring round the heart an undescribable feud;
11So do these wonders a most dizzy pain,
12 That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude
13Wasting of old time—with a billowy main—
14 A sun—a shadow of a magnitude.
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“On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” Summary
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“On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” Themes
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Time and Mortality
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The Power and Limitations of Art
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles”
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Lines 1-2
My spirit is too weak—mortality
Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep, -
Lines 3-5
And each imagined pinnacle and steep
Of godlike hardship, tells me I must die
Like a sick eagle looking at the sky. -
Lines 6-8
Yet ’tis a gentle luxury to weep
That I have not the cloudy winds to keep,
Fresh for the opening of the morning’s eye. -
Lines 9-10
Such dim-conceived glories of the brain
Bring round the heart an undescribable feud; -
Lines 11-13
So do these wonders a most dizzy pain,
That mingles Grecian grandeur with the rude
Wasting of old time -
Lines 13-14
with a billowy main—
A sun—a shadow of a magnitude.
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“On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” Symbols
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The Elgin Marbles
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“On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Allusion
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Paradox
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Simile
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Caesura
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Enjambment
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Assonance
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Alliteration
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“On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Mortality
- Pinnacle
- Steep
- Dim-conceived
- Glories
- Feud
- Mingles
- Rude
- Wasting
- A billowy main
- Magnitude
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” Speaker
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“On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles”
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More “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” Resources
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External Resources
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Keats and the Marbles — Read about Keats's personal experiences with the Parthenon Marbles.
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More on the Parthenon Marbles — Visit the British Museum's website to learn more about the history of (and controversies around) the Parthenon Marbles.
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Keats's Influence — Read a recent reflection on Keats's enduring importance; 2021 marked 200 years since his death, and he remains a deeply beloved and influential poet.
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The Debate Over the Marbles — Read a letter to the editor of The Guardian newspaper that discusses Keats's role in the ongoing debate over where the Parthenon Marbles should be housed.
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The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.
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A Short Biography — Learn more about Keats's life and work via the British Library's website.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by John Keats
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