The truth in Keats's Ode on a Grecian Urn and that of Cummings since feeling is primaryThe truth remains a mysterious essential : researched, created and destroyed in countless metaphysical arguments throughout time. Whether argued as absolute or relative, universal or personal, no thought is perceived or conceived without an evaluation of its truth. In John Keats's "Ode on a Grecian Urn" and EE Cummings's "Since Feeling Is First," the concern is not specifically with the truth of a thought, but rather with the general nature of truth; the foundation that gives truth is truth. Both poets replace investigation with decision, and what would be argumentation in the hands of philosophers becomes example and sentiment in their poems. Each poet's examples create a resonance in the reader, designed to engender belief or provoke thought. Using images of unconsummated actions on an ancient urn carved with scenes from life, Keats suggests that “beauty is truth, truth beauty”; Cummings, for his part, proposes emotion as the basis of truth and supports life fully through diction, the suggestive syntax of the theme and the images of the action performed. Cummings's "since feeling is first" compares the beauty of emotion and the inadequacy of emotion. mental analysis. In the third line, the attention paid to "syntax", synonymous with literary construction and order, ruins emotional spontaneity, symbolized by a kiss. “To be completely crazy while spring is in the world” ignores social conventions in the pursuit of pleasure while “crazy” and “Spring” complement each other and suggest the blossoming of love. The sixth line, “my blood approves,” focuses on the physical root of life and avoids the hackneyed connotative baggage that arrives with the word “heart.” Cummings then swears...... middle of paper...... unmanageable in reality and easily assimilated into the story told by "the historian Sylvain". Thus, the urn as historian provides the truth discussed in the last line. Literally, the truth of the urn (its representation of life) is its beauty. The derived equivalence of truth and beauty allows the final statement: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.” Through similar rhetorical features, “since feeling is first” celebrates love and extols the virtue of intuitive and spontaneous emotion. Cummings' use of sensual imagery pushes aside methodical analysis and presents emotion as truth. The two poems arrive at distinct conclusions and reflect the diversity of perspectives regarding the nature of truth. Works CitedBrooks, Cleanth. The well-crafted urn. New York: Harcourt Brace Johanovich, 1975. Prentice Hall Literature: The American Experience. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1991.