John Keats: "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket"

[Michael]

This sonnet, composed in fifteen minutes in a competition with a fellow poet, provided one of the earliest indications that Keats’ talent was equal to his ambition. From its resonant opening (“The poetry of earth is never dead”) to the lovely closing verses, ”On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” has that feeling of inevitability that one associates with great poetry.

 

Feel free to post here any questions, observations, or feedback that might have occurred to you as you took our brief course on the poem. Whether or not you’ve seen the video, we’re interested in hearing your thoughts about the poem. Let the conversation begin!