John Keats
The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead.
That is the grasshopper's- he takes the lead
In summer luxury, - he has never done
With his delights, for when tired out with fun,
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening, when the frost
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
The cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one, in drowsiness half-lost,
The grasshopper's among some grassy hills.
Last night brother #4's cricket escaped. After an eventful chase, it was recovered, to my relief. Now all five boys are preparing to go out and hunt for more crickets. Life is never dull with boys around! :-)
3 comments:
Thanks for posting this poem. I learn something every day. Like ... if you are a real poet, such as Mr. Keats, you are permitted to break the rules. Examples abound in this poem.
Like line 2: syllables 8 and 9 (the hot) are inconsistent with iambic feet ... in other words, the accent falls wrong on those two syllables.
The rhyme scheme in a Petrarchan sonnet is generally ABBA ABBA CDECDE.
But, despite line 5 (lead) having one pronunciation that rhymes with dead and mead(ow), that is not the pronuciation/word that he is using.
And finally, look at lines 9 and 12 (never / ever), in which he leaves iambic pentameter (a 10 syllable line) and uses 11 syllables.
And all to tell the story of how the grasshopper choir of the summer somehow morphs into the cricket soloist that has made its way indoors for winter, in which the half-asleep listener hears the summertime.
This gives me great hope. That means if I ever become famous, then I can break the rules (LOL).
JFC ... the Polyphonic Poet
JFC- In my own poetry writing, I haven't generally paid much attention to 'the rules' (which helps to explain why my poetry generally isn't very good!), but reading older poems has given me more appreciation for structured poetry. Thank you for sharing how you looked at the poem part by part, it was interesting (and educational) to look at a poem from a different angle than I usually do- which is, do I like it, does it seem to flow well, etc.
Lauren- LOL! :-) Don't you even like the song of the crickets?
Even though it has nothing to do with the post, Doug Wilson acknowledges in the title of his post here that sonnets are driven by rules. LOL!
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