Thursday, September 29, 2011

Poem of the day #15

Ode on Melancholy
John Keats

1

No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
       Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wing;
  Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd
       By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
  Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
       Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
           Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
  A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
       For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
           And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul

2

But when the melancholy fit shall fall
   Sudden from heaven like a weepy cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
   And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut they sorrows on a poring rose,
   Or on the rainbow of the sale sand-wave,
      Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if they mistress some rich anger shows,
   Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
       And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.

3

She dwells with Beaty-- Beauty that must die;
   And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure night
   Turning to poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of Delight
   Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of non save him whose strenuous tongue
   Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
       And be amoung her cloudy trophies hung.

4 comments:

Bahnree said...

I didn't comment on this because I dislike Keats' poetry. Which trust me, I feel guilty about and I know is completely unwarranted, EXCEPT that I had to study "Ode on a Grecian Urn" for like 4 weeks last year and....yeah. UGH.

Anna Carroll said...

British Romanticism is my field of specialty, and I actually study Wordsworth primarily, but this is maybe my favorite poem in the English language. It's so very beautiful. Thanks for posting it!

Anna Carroll said...

So British Romanticism is my field of study, and I actually work on Wordsworth primarily, but this is probably my favorite poem in the English language. It's soooo good! Thanks for posting it!

Snazel said...

@Bahnree: Hater. *shuns*
@Anna: You're welcome! :D

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