On the Grasshopper and Cricket: JOHN KEATS /POEM/W B B H S S E 12

The Poetry of earth is never dead: (a)

  When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, (b)   

  And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run (b)   

From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead ;(a)    

That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead (a)     

  In summer luxury,—he has never done   (b) 

  With his delights; for when tired out with fun (b)   

He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed. (a)    

 

The poetry of earth is ceasing never: (c)   

  On a lone winter evening, when the frost (d)   

    Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills  (e)

The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever, (c)

  And seems to one in drowsiness half lost, (d)    

    The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills. (e)

 

 

WORDS	MEANINGS		WORDS	MEANINGS
HIDE	KEEP OUT OF SIGHT		FAINT	SENSELESS
HEDGE	BUSHES/SHRUBS		DELIGHT	JOY
NEW-MOWN	RECENTLY CUT		LUXURY	CONDITION OF GREAT EASE
MEAD	PIECE OF GRASSLAND		WEED	WILD PLANT
EASE	EASILY		CEASING	STOPPING
WROUGHT	CREATE/MADE		STOVE	SHELTER
SHRILLS	PIERCING CRY		WARMTH	FEELING OF WARM
DROWSINESS	SLEEPINESS		GRASY	COVERED WITH GRASS
LONE	ALONE		FROST	SMALL WHITE ICE CRYSTAL

 

 

POET:

 John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was a romantic poet and he is popular for vivid imageries expressed through philosophy and great sensuous appeal.

 

Poem in Brief:

The poetry of earth or “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” is a beautiful symbolic sonnet. The grasshopper symbolizes summer and the cricket symbolizes the cold winter. The opening line of the sonnet begins with a statement that the earth’s poetry never dies.  Nature is always a matter of attraction and so has Keats been. Through his poem, ‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ the poet asserts that no matter what the season is, the earth is always singing.

During a very hot summer day, in the scorching heat of the sun, all the birds are tired and stop their twittering and singing and rest under the cool shade of trees. But the music of the earth never ceases. The grasshopper goes on hopping from one hedge to another, chirping and singing merrily delightfully. He sings tirelessly and at last it takes rest under some shady weed.

In the sestet, the poet again declares that the poetry of the earth will never stop.There is no interruption. It is ever-lasting. Now in the bitter cold winter evening, when all living creatures have taken shelter for rest, the poetry of the earth continues without any break. Then the silence is shattered by the shrill chirpings of the cricket. The cricket which has been driven indoors to seek the warmth of the stove sings a shrill song. It sings  louder and louder breaking the painful silence ,as he gets more and more warmth from the stove. Now the living beings and the animals that are in slumber cannot find any difference in the song of the cricket from that of the grasshopper. They think the music of the grasshopper is still continuing.

 

THEME:

The theme of the poem is that no one is ever alone in the world. There is always a living force working in the nature. Moreover, the nature is also always happy. Nature is never sad. It is always singing through the medium like grasshopper, cricket and many other natural elements. Keats belonged to the Romantic age and he easily trod in the world of imagination and fancy from the world of reality, pain and suffering. It brings extreme relief during extreme conditions with these sweet music they create. Besides, life goes on with all its extreme  compulsions, so  there should be always someone to create some music of joy to make our life colourful. The poem beautifully references Aesop’s fable -The Ant and the Grasshopper.

 

Analysis:

 

‘On the Grasshopper and the Cricket’ is a fourteen lines Petrarchan sonnet. The rhyme structure is   abba abba  cde  cde  and is  divided into an octet and a sestet. The first half of the octet deals with the imageries of summer and while the second half deals with the grasshopper. The first half of the sestet deals with the winter and the second half deals with the cricket.                                                                                                                                    The theme of the poem is that no one is ever alone in the world, there is always a living force working in the nature.                                                                                                                        Keats belonged to the Romantic age and he easily trod in the world of imagination and fancy from the world of reality, pain and suffering. It brings extreme relief during extreme conditions with these sweet music they create. Besides, life goes on with all its extreme  compulsions, so  there should be always someone to create some music of joy to make our life colourful.                                                                                                                              In the sonnet the poet expresses his appreciation and admiration for nature in a powerful and observant way. He also shows the importance of these species in the world.                                            It is interesting to note how Keats reference provides the reader with the authors wise and heartfelt appreciation for, not only the grasshopper and cricket, but for nature also. With the mere pleasure of words and thoughts, Keats is able to convey his feelings. Words like "birds," "faint," "hot sun," and "cooling trees," all suggest that the season is summer. In choosing the grasshopper and cricket in his poem, Keats provides a uniqueness of both species, and their  importance.                                                                                                                          He confirms this by using capital letters for the grasshopper and cricket, and picks the grasshopper to symbolize summer. Keats uses the cricket to associate winter.  He craftfully shows how things move through eternal cycles  forever. By using the grasshopper and the cricket, Keats provides us with the knowledge and foresight that all things have a purpose, and how the different species thrive under different conditions; how that balance in nature depicts its natural beauty and offers hope. As poetry produces various tones, elements and sounds, Keats describes in this poem, how nature does the same thing, doing it beautifully and naturally.                                                                                                                       The poetry of earth is not simply nature poet but , it is a poem about the never-ending power of nature. The poetry of earth is never dead because the existence of nature goes on. So, the omnipresence of nature is forever enchanting, and bountiful, and her “poetry” is unspoiled, though the cyclic rhythm of the seasons comes and goes.