Question

Poem 1

Answer 1

Both poems discuss the passage of time. However, both discuss different aspects of this idea. 

In the first poem, it will forever be spring -- time has been frozen. He is envious of the piper, who will be forever playing. (Unlike us, for whom time passes.)

In the second poem, however, time has taken its toll on the marble, which is why Keats says that Grecian grandeur has been mingled with with the "rude wasting of time." Here, looking at the marble makes him remember time passes for us all.

Answer 2

The theme of “Ode on a Grecian Urn” is that art is eternal and unchanging. Keats repeats the words “for ever” to show that the image on the vase never changes. By contrast, “On Seeing the Elgin Marbles” suggests that nothing lasts forever; according to the poem, even art is subject to the “rude / Wasting of old Time.”