Saturday 2 October 2010

A Keats' sonnet

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starred face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love; -then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

John Keats (1795-1821)

6 comments:

  1. thanks poet ...for posting a gem! sometimes in all of our striving it's just so good to go back to the best!

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  2. They don;t make 'e like that any more do they? Wonderful stuff and so very relaxing to read and understand.
    Joan has posted her book and a letter to you to your mum's today Gwylim.

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  3. Poets and artists always should, as Gerry suggests, often go back to the best, which we know from its beauty, and there regather our ourselves. This we have done here.

    The most important word in this exemplary poem is the last word on the penultimate line. No question about it.

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  4. -then on the shore
    Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,
    Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

    Praise be to thinkers, everywhere!

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  5. Yes indeed, Jinksy. Praise be to those precious few - the thinkers!

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