John Keats in Hampstead
John Keats in Hampstead
It was Christmas Eve
with mounds of snow on grayish lanes
and red roofs of dull Hampstead
hanging still and unmoved in dark English noon.
Sky was fat with clouds,
all set to dart the December flakes
on the sleepy impious town.
Seated in his hearth was John Keats
trying to brood and burst out verses sweet.
Sick Tom lay nearby , alone, breathing hard
and spurting red cough in thoughtless trance.
The evening draughts sneaked through
the edges of closed windows like death’s harbinger
with a whistling tone rustling papers and candles.
‘What thinks little John?’ mused
the frail Tom, ‘Was it fear or boredom?
Why is he sober?’
He remembered words once
His mother spoke,
‘John has two lives
A mundane
social one, and an ideal fecund dream.
He is unfit for filthy earth,
as only heavenly ears can absorb his strains’.
The clock now ticked loud
And John rose like a winter bird
from ebony old
to peer into sticky icicles
of distant bony trees.
Human life too are icicles on thorny earth.
Fate, like sun would water them soon….
Font size:
Submitted by guhsubram75 on August 27, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:01 min read
- 51 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | A XBACXXX XXXXXDEXXDXXXXXFBXXXEXFC |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,073 |
Words | 206 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 7, 24 |
Translation
Find a translation for this poem in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"John Keats in Hampstead" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/136118/john-keats-in-hampstead>.
Discuss the poem John Keats in Hampstead with the community...
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In