There are a multitude of techniques poets use to make their poetry both pithy and complex. Due to the limitations of certain poetic forms, poets may be forced to use the devices of meter and diction to accurately express their commentary. Some poets may choose to use allusions to relate a number of scenarios to a certain theme, utilizing the historical context of these scenarios as further material for interpretation. Other poets may choose the opposite approach to economy, intentionally writing little, but carefully using diction and metaphor to allow the reader to “say a lot” themselves by interpreting the work in a number of different ways. Although the poets John Keats, W.H. Auden, and Sylvia Plath use these techniques differently, they …show more content…
This occurs more frequently in Keats’ odes, where he expands on a theme introduced by a singular object or idea. For example, in the final stanza of “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, Keats addresses the urn by saying “Thou, silent form, dost tease us out of thought / As doth eternity… When old age shall this generation waste, / Thou shalt remain” (Keats 44-47). This is where Keats’ use of metaphor for efficiency differs from Plath’s. Whereas Plath begins with a situation and expands on it until it is metaphorical, allowing the reader to add their own interpretation, Keats narrows in on the situation until he reaches an explicit point in his poetry where he succinctly states the main idea. In “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, this theme is the idea that the urn allows Keats to delve into his imagination and forget his inevitable mortality as opposed to the immortality of the urn. Once the reader reaches the end of the poem, they have a clear understanding of what Keats’ metaphorical commentary is concerning the urn. In this sense, Keats’ economy is similar to Auden’s in that they both directly indicate their intended message; the poetry says a lot in a small space, not the