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Difficulty: MediumPoetic Diction and Syntax

Read the following lines from John Keats’s poem "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819):

1 Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
2 To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
3 Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
4 And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
5 What little town by river or sea shore,
6 Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
7 Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
8 And, little town, thy streets for evermore
9 Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
10 Why thou art desolate, can e'er return.

In lines 8–10 ("And, little town . . . e'er return"), which of the following best describes the effect of the syntactical structure of the clause "and not a soul to tell / Why thou art desolate, can e'er return"?

  1. A
    It uses enjambment to split the clause into two grammatically complete sentences, suggesting that the silence of the town is independent of the citizens' ability to return.
  2. It separates the subject from its verb with an intervening description of the town's mystery, delaying the resolution of the sentence to underscore the permanence of the citizens' absence.Answer
  3. C
    It treats 'desolate' as the direct object of the verb 'return', indicating that the speaker intends to physically occupy the abandoned space.
  4. D
    It employs personification in 'soul' and metrical inversion to create a musical cadence, prioritizing formal decoration over thematic development.
  5. E
    It reflects Keats’s biographical sorrow over his own impending mortality by using first-person syntax to speak directly to the readers.

Answer

The syntactical structure of the clause separates the subject from its verb with an intervening description of the town's mystery, delaying the resolution of the sentence to underscore the permanence of the citizens' absence.
The correct answer accurately describes how the clause separates the subject ('not a soul') from its verb ('can e'er return') with a modifying infinitive phrase ('to tell') and a noun clause ('Why thou art desolate'). By delaying the verb, the sentence structurally mimics the prolonged, infinite wait of the empty town, emphasizing that the silent streets will never see their inhabitants return.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the grammar and syntax of the specified lines.
Identify that the clause beginning with 'and not a soul' contains the subject 'not a soul' (line 9) and ends with the verb phrase 'can e'er return' (line 10).
Understanding the core subject-verb agreement is the first step in parsing complex or inverted poetic syntax.
2
Examine the elements that intervene between the subject and the verb.
Identify the infinitive phrase 'to tell' modifying 'soul' and the noun clause 'Why thou art desolate' acting as the direct object of 'tell'.
This shows how the syntax delays the completion of the sentence's main clause.
3
Synthesize the relationship between this delayed syntax and the thematic meaning of the passage.
Determine that the delay in completing the clause structurally mirrors the eternal suspension and desolation of the empty town depicted on the urn.
Connecting syntactical choices to thematic meaning is critical for demonstrating AP-level analysis of poetry.

Key Concept

Analyzing Poetic Syntax and Grammatical Inversion
Estimated Time:1m 30s
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Topics

Poetic Diction and Syntax

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