John Keats’ sonnet on the grasshopper and the cricket

keatslover

      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.
          The poem is the result of a competition between john Keats and his friend Leigh Hunt . The two were to compose a poem on the grasshopper within the required time and John Keats won as to time.
          Again ,the poem demonstrates the sensuousness for which John Keats is famous. John Keats’early poetic is the result of influences from Spenser and his friend Leigh Hunt who defines poetry as” yielding pleasure”. Later he adopted william Hazlitt's 'depth of taste' and assimilated it into his 'nagative capability.'The new-found poetic tenet enthused him and found its way into his later odes. The influence of Spenser on John Keats is tremendous. He inherited from ‘the prince of the poets’ the richness of poetic texture.  One instance suffices : even as John Keats was greatly enfeebled by the deadly consumption he found time to select some beautiful passages from Spencer to Fanny Brown. In fact, we might as well say: without Spenser, without John Keats.
             To make the readers experience the 'live' music produced by the grasshopper and the cricket, John Keats deployed some anapestic foots in this predominately iambic sonnet so that we can “hear” it in the middle of the poem. In addition the vowels are very rich and varied. For example when he writes ‘ has wrought a silence ,from the stove there shrills the cricket song , in warmth increasing ever’, the cluster of Is as in ‘the , there ,shrill ,cricket ,in and increasing’ is enough for us to ‘overhear’ the music in full swing.
            In a sweltering summer when everything is wilting in the relentless sun one might experience the sensation of a breeze in reading the poem. Maybe that is precisely the aesthetic experience John Keats intended us to have in this blistering summer.

[ 本帖最后由 keatslover 于 2007-9-10 12:03 PM 编辑 ]

OliverABC

Yes, Keatslover. After reading the verse and your subtle interpretation, I would like to identify John Keats with a certain Chinese poet, Dufu, who had been set down to realistic group by mostly literature critics. Firstly, I would beg your graceful understanding for my ignorance about JohnKeats and his works, and my shallow voice on the great poet. Yes, having frequently disputed with some guys on literature criticism, now I feel really suspicious of my literature aesthetic taste that had been forged during my school life---I had been trained austerely to begin my comment on every masterpiece with the choice of either romanticism or realticism. At my school age, student's answer will be likely labeled incompleteness until he, at last, appended his commentary with 'as a romantic poet (realistic poet), he ...'.  So the either-or binary thought rooted deeply in students. With that mode, John keats, I think, might be read as a realtisc spirit. For instance, I quote several lines as below to support my point:
                  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 five lines aforementioned could perfectly sketch one rural field in front of readers, like landscape painting, for which I readily have empathy with author's feeling. Also I think that the rest part of the poem proves further his realistic color. In parallel, one of Dufu’s features is his painting-like description of objective scene, and yet emotional expression of personal voice. For example, one of his exponent works is titled with Vernal Overlooking that read as following—I will be found a farcical reciter:
Vernal Overlooking
Motherland has been devastated with soil otherwise still remaining,
Spring has sprouted the thriving grass and woods inside bleak castle.
………

Secondly, your comments make me sure that mere difference between eastern works and western works seems the language, but that’s all over. Both groups could have much reference with one anther, as feels indeed a big striding for me to recognize that case!
Thank you!

未明

Err....
Words has that the only man who can parallel with Shakespeare is Keats,and I grant you that...His works feel delicated,soft and warm...(confined to the works I've read...)

Also,word has that...good man die early(= =|||).He is not the exception to the rule...which proves that he is great(?!)to some extent?...