Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem
line-by-line. O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede Of marble
men and maidens overwrought, With forest branches and the
trodden weed; - Compared to the steamy stanza III, stanza IV was
a mellow, low-key affair. But in the last stanza the speaker
suddenly gets excited again. - It’s like someone stuck a shot of
adrenaline in his arm. He starts yelling about the beautiful
appearance of the urn, as if noticing it for the first time. -
He has raptures over its "Attic shape," which just means it has
a distinctively Greek appearance, and its "fair attitude," which
means a graceful posture. (A "brede" is a braid, like a braid of
hair.) - The lovers are "braided" together in the chiseled
marble, which is a wild image. It makes the carving sound
complicated and ornate. - Indeed, the speaker calls the
depiction "overwrought," or too complicated. - There’s just too
much detail and craftsmanship. This might remind us of the use
of the word "cloy’d" in stanza