Ode on a Grecian Urn and The Weary Blues

    Answer Questions for Consideration-Ode on a Grecian Urn and The Weary Blues (40) 1. You may have noticed that instead of the traditional iambic pentameter used by Keats in “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” Hughes’s form here sounds more contemporary. Reading it aloud reveals its blues rhythms—its own syncopation, for example, like that the speaker describes in the old blues singer’s song. Why might Hughes have chosen this form instead of the iambic pentameter rhythm in “Ode on a Grecian Urn”? 2. The speaker seems to enjoy the performance of the blues singer, but he notes that the singer finishes, goes to bed, and sleeps “like a rock or a man that’s dead” (line 35). What emotions are usually associated with the blues? Why do people sing the blues? Why do people go to clubs to hear someone else sing the blues and maybe even dance to the songs? With these issues in mind, what do you think the poem’s last line means? 3. How does Hughes convey the dialect of the singer? Are these dialect features important to the overall effect of the poem? How so?