Describe the historical and social context of "Ode on a Grecian Urn."

According to scholar Jonathan Sachs, "in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth century ... [there was] an increasing fascination with Greece and Greek culture." Keats shared in that fascination. We know, for instance, that he viewed the Elgin marbles, brought to England from Greece in 1805, and we know that two articles by the artist Benjamin Haydon on classical Greek art influenced Keats' writing of "Ode on a Grecian Urn." The first Haydon article was...

According to scholar Jonathan Sachs, "in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth century ... [there was] an increasing fascination with Greece and Greek culture." Keats shared in that fascination. We know, for instance, that he viewed the Elgin marbles, brought to England from Greece in 1805, and we know that two articles by the artist Benjamin Haydon on classical Greek art influenced Keats' writing of "Ode on a Grecian Urn." The first Haydon article was about Greek worship and sacrifice, which figure prominently in Keats' poem. We have evidence too that Keats saw and made copies of classical Grecian urns. 

During this period, archeology was beginning to flourish and antiquities from once great cultures flooded into England: the year "Ode to a Grecian Urn" was written also saw the publication of Shelley's "Ozymandias," inspired by the shipment of the Egyptian statue of Ramses II to England. As these poems attest, both poets shared the contemporary interest in "antique" cultures.

In a more specific historical context, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" was one of a group of five odes that Keats wrote, probably in May 1819. "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is considered a Romantic poem, although its subject, an urn from ancient Greece, is more likely to be associated with the neo-Classical poetry of the Enlightenment. Nevertheless, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" displays Romantic traits, including bursts of ecstatic emotion: the poet addresses the vase as  "Happy!" multiple times, and Keats focuses not on classical heroes, gods or famous statesmen, but on ordinary people heading to a festival.