Abstract
Philip Larkin's most irreverent revision of John Keats rejects the famous dichotomy of the Ode on a Grecian Urn. I have always believed, Larkin writes, beauty is beauty, truth truth, that is not all ye know on earth nor all ye need to know.' He briskly separates the realms that Keats held in ambiguous balance and denies any paramount significance to his new formulation. Such large-scale devaluation of romantic currency might be expected from Larkin, who has always made more modest claims for art. His position might with matching irreverence be summarized by revising one of his own less earnest equations: books aren't a load of truth. Yet Larkin's achievement as a poet demonstrates a more profound reappraisal of romantic values than is evident in any of his wryly dogmatic critical pronouncements. In particular, The Whitsun Weddings may be viewed as a searching revaluation of Keats's art in the Ode on a Grecian Urn.
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