17 pages 34 minutes read

On Seeing the Elgin Marbles

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1817

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Background

Literary Context: Keats and Romanticism

John Keats belongs to the second generation of the Romantic poets, a movement that boasted figures such as Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Romanticism was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that celebrated emotions and the individual’s connection to the natural world. Romanticism began in the late 18th century and reached its peak in the first half of the 19th century, the period when the short-lived Keats was active. The movement emerged at least in part as a reaction to the rationalist ideology that prevailed during the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment of the 17th century, with the Romantics seeking to move away from the idea that humans were little more than machines governed by cold reason.

Keats’s poetry is characteristic of the preoccupations of Romanticism, with its lyrical and sensual exploration of emotional themes. Keats’s fascination with nature comes through in his vivid descriptions of landscapes such as those found in his “To Autumn.” Nature, construed as a source of inspiration, spiritual connection, and transcendence, occupied a privileged place in the works of other Romantic poets as well. But Romanticism was also heavily drawn by the allure of the past, especially the ancient past. In “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” or “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” Keats was inspired by the achievements of the ancient classical world. Similarly, Keats’s contemporary Percy Bysshe Shelley looked to Egypt in his poem “Ozymandias,” while Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein was inspired by the Greek myth of Prometheus.

Though his poems were highly evocative of contemporary Romanticism, Keats himself never felt at ease with the other Romantic poets of his time. He was heavily influenced by the works of William Wordsworth but found the man himself to be unbearably conservative in person. Similarly, Keats always felt out of place in the elite circle that surrounded Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Historical Context: The Elgin Marbles

The Elgin Marbles, the inspiration for Keats’s poem, were a collection of sculptures that were originally part of the Parthenon in Athens (and, as such, they are sometimes known as the Parthenon Marbles). These sculptures were created in the middle of the fifth century BCE by the workshop of Phidias, the premier sculptor and architect of his time. The collection of sculptures is made up of various reliefs and free-standing statues that would have decorated the interior and exterior of the Parthenon.

Between 1801 and 1812, Thomas Bruce, seventh earl of Elgin (Lord Elgin), sent his agents to remove many of the better-preserved Parthenon sculptures. At the time, Greece was still under Ottoman rule. Though Lord Elgin claimed that he was acting with the permission of the ruling authorities, many have doubted that this was true. In 1816, Lord Elgin displayed the sculptures—by then dubbed the Elgin Marbles—at the British Museum in London.

The removal of the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon has sparked numerous debates and legal disputes. An inquiry conducted by the British Parliament in 1816 concluded that the sculptures were acquired legally, but some were not happy with this verdict. Many believed—and continued to believe—that Elgin’s actions were tantamount to looting. In 1993, the Greek government initiated a new dispute with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to request that the United Kingdom restore the Elgin Marbles to Greece, but this request was never granted. In 2021, UNESCO again called on the United Kingdom to settle the matter.

One of the main arguments surrounding the Elgin Marbles revolves around issues of ownership and cultural heritage. The Greek government has claimed that the sculptures were illegally and unethically acquired by Lord Elgin and that they rightfully belong to Greece. On the other hand, the British Museum and its advocates have maintained that the Elgin Marbles were acquired legally, that their return would set a dangerous precedent for other museum collections around the world, and that the presence of the sculptures in the British Museum has made them accessible to a global audience. The issue remains unresolved, and the Elgin Marbles continue to be a symbol of the complex and contentious nature of cultural heritage and ownership in a post-imperialist and post-colonial world.

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