"Beauty is truth, truth beauty"
I saw this on the wall in the Library of Congress, and just remembered to look it up.
It's from "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
by John Keats (1820)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ode_on_a_Grecian_Urn
The whole poem is on the Wikipedia page, here are the last five lines:
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou sayst,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," – that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.
I thought I'd share it. I liked it.
John Keats' ode to a treasure of Classical Antiquity immortalized him, much like the creation of the Art by which the poem was inspired immortalized the Artist. The essence of the poem, that beauty is eternal as truth is eternal is moving, and resonated with me. Obviously it resonated strongly with the builders of America's greatest, and one of the worlds greatest libraries.
The profound beauty and art of the ancient world still reverberates to the present, passing through time unchanged in truth and beauty.
The truth is beautiful.
Beauty is truth.
It's beautiful because it's true.
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