On the Grasshopper and Cricket

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.

This poem is in the public domain.

About This Poem

“On the Grasshopper and Cricket” was published in Keats’s book Poems (C. & J. Ollier, 1817).

John Keats was born in London, England, on October 31, 1795. His poetry collections include Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems (1820) and Edymion: A Poetic Romance (1818). He died on February 23, 1821, at the age of twenty-five.

Photo: Joseph Severn’s miniature of Keats, 1819

Poetry by Keats

The Complete Poems of John Keats

(Modern Library, 1994)

"Of Many Worlds in This World" by Margaret Cavendish

"Two Butterflies went out at Noon— (533)" by Emily Dickinson

"The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by W. B. Yeats

Poem-a-Day

Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.

Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.

You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.

Inspirational Quotes Pictures

Pages

Saturday, February 28, 2015