Guest poem submitted by Mike Christie:
(Poem #910) On the Grasshopper and the Cricket 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. |
It's cricket season here in Texas, and the other day a cricket found its way into our office and started serenading us from a coworker's desk. We eventually tracked him down and released him outside, though the corpses of dozens of his brethren are littering our parking lot, lobby and staircase. Anyway, he reminded me of Keats' sonnet above, which I've liked since I read it decades ago. As I recall, the sonnet was written relatively early in Keats' career, and was the result of a competition with a friend to write a sonnet on a grasshopper. I've never known who the friend was or how his sonnet came out, though I rather suspect Keats won the competition. If anyone can find out I'd love to know. Mike Christie. [Minstrels Links] Other poems by Keats: Poem #12, On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer Poem #182, La Belle Dame Sans Merci Poem #316, Ode to a Nightingale Poem #433, Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell Poem #575, To Mrs Reynolds' Cat Poem #696, Last Sonnet Poem #770, A Thing of Beauty is a Joy for Ever Poem #910, On the Grasshopper and the Cricket Poetry competitions seem to have been quite popular with the Romantics; see Poem #22, Ozymandias -- Percy Bysshe Shelley and its companion piece: Poem #285, On a Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below -- Horace Smith
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The contest was with Leigh Hunt -- Dec. 1816. The contest was Hunt's idea.
His poem:
Green little vaulter in the sunny grass,
Catching your heart up at the feel of June,
Sole voice that's heard amidst the lazy noon,
When even the bees lag at the summoning brass,
And you, warm little housekeeper, who class
With those who think the candles come too soon,
Loving the fire, and with your tricksome tune
Nick the glad silent moments as they pass;
Oh sweet and tiny cousins, that belong,
One to the fields, the other to the hearth,
Both have your sunshine; both, though small, are strong
At your clear hearts; and both seem given to earth
To ring in thoughtful ears this natural song --
In doors and out, summer and winter, mirth.
"Who won?" isn't a commonly asked question.
--Mark
Keats won.
Excellent to know about the Mike Christie,and Minstrels Links, also the poem is just outstanding relating to the cricket, wonderful work.
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dissertation Writing
this poem has an octet and a sestet right?
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