jennifer b (no email) from 192.239.151.157 at 11/29/98 07:25PM
comment
    I think the two paradoxes about the moment frozen in time on the urn are both important to the overall meaning of the poem. The cow will never be slaughtered, while the lovers can never consummate their love, etc. This seems to be a comment on the idea of time. While we would sometimes like to be able to stop time, we see from this example that it is not always advantageous to do so. Also, it is a comment on the ability of art to stop time. This urn's scenes are stopped time. I think he's saying that this is both good and bad. The scenes gain an immortality, but at the same time they are showing that they are not life, but only an image of it.