Question

In "Ode on a Grecian Urn", what scene is described in lines 31–34?

• A. A wedding celebration
• B. A religious procession and sacrifice
• C. A group of shepherds playing pipes
• D. A lover chasing his beloved

Answer 1

Answer:

B. A religious procession and sacrifice

• Lines 31–34 of "Ode on a Grecian Urn" introduce a new and solemn scene depicted on the urn:

"Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?"

• Here, the speaker describes a religious procession led by a priest guiding a heifer (a young cow) adorned with garlands—a traditional symbol of ritual and ceremony.

• The animal is being taken toward an altar, suggesting that a sacrifice is about to occur, likely part of an ancient Greek religious rite.

• This scene contrasts with earlier stanzas that depict music and romantic love, and it signals a shift in the speaker’s tone—from engagement to mystery and distance.

• The speaker cannot fully access or interpret this ancient ceremonial act, which heightens the poem’s theme of the eternal yet unknowable nature of art.