At first glance, when we see the word epigram just by itself, one might think that its definition has something to do with weights, as it ends with the suffix gram. But that isn’t true. According to the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, epigram is defined as “a concise poem dealing pointedly and often satirically with a single thought or event and often ending with an ingenious turn of thought.” In this case, the poem would be Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats and the thought or idea would be “Beauty is truth, truth beauty-that is all/ Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
When Stanley Diamond talks about this epigram in “The Beautiful and the Ugly are One Thing, the Sublime Another: A Reflection on Culture”, he says that there are limitations to the ideal mentioned by Keats. In my opinion, I agree with Diamond. This is because he relates beauty with truth, wherein truth is a fact that can’t be changed but beauty is a subjective term because everyone has a different definition of beauty. Diamond does a very good job of explaining how beauty is viewed differently in different cultures and time periods.
Also, if we look at this in a philosophical manner, then there is this question of what is truth? And does it really exist? And if does exist, then how does one know that it exists? This is because everytime an incident takes place, there are three versions of truth: my version of the truth, other people’s versions of the truth and the real truth itself. But no one knows what that real truth actually is because everyone has their own version. So, if we can’t even define what truth actually is, then how would we know that something like beauty, which is subjective, equates to the real truth.
Since truth cannot be defined, wouldn’t truth be more than a fact?
The whole concept of facts is that facts have concrete meaning. Truth can’t be defined, therefore it isn’t a fact.
Facts are true, but truth isn’t necessarily a fact. Truth encompasses facts, but it goes beyond them since some truths cannot be broken down into facts.
In the same way, beauty can be truth, but truth is greater than beauty.
Interesting post! I enjoyed reading it.
You really know how to involve the reader and challenge them to think with all the questions you ask throughout the post. Great work
I liked the philosophical portion at the end of your post. Great way to tie multiple subjects together and it was also an interesting read throughout.