On the Grasshopper and the Cricket

1. On the Grasshopper and the Cricket John Keats • Presentation by: • Emad Masroor • HashirShahid • Faaris Khan

2. The poetry of earth is never dead: When all the birds are faint with the hot sun And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead That is the grasshopper’s – he takes the lead In summer luxury, – he has never done With his delights; for when tired out with fun He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed. The poetry of earth is ceasing never: On a lone winter evening, when the frost Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills The cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever, And seems to one in drowsiness half lost, The grasshopper’s among some grassy hills

3. Structure • The poem is structurally similar to a sonnet because: • It has 14 lines • It can be divided into an octet and a sestet • It is written in iambic pentameter • The poem has a definite rhyme scheme • {abbaabbacdecde} • The first half of the octet deals with summer imagery, while the second half deals with the grasshopper • Similarly, the first half of the sestet deals with winter imagery, while the second half deals with the cricket.

4. Imagery • The Octet: • Summer (afternoon) imagery: • Hot sun • Cooling trees • Hedge • New-mown mead (meadow) • The Sestet: • Winter (evening) imagery: • Lone winter evening • Frost • Stove • Silence

5. Octet: Grasshopper Sestet: Cricket • Active in the summer • Active in the day time _________________________ • Pleasant and active mood • Lively environment created by the words ‘delights’ and ‘fun’ • Active in the winter • Active in the evening _________________________ • Dismal and melancholy mood • Slow and peaceful environment created by ‘silence’ and ‘drowsiness’

6. Holistic Interpretation • The poem begins in a lively mood with images mostly relating to the typical ideal of a summer afternoon. Amidst this environment, the poet introduces the grasshopper, who ‘takes the lead’ among other creatures, as if proclaiming the bounties of summer • In the sestet, the mood of the poem changes, with the images now dealing mostly with the winter evening and its related silence. Amidst this silence, the cricket’s song is introduced, which brings ‘warmth’ in the cold atmosphere

7. The song of the cricket amidst the silence wrought by the frost reminds the poet of the grasshopper’s song in the summer. • The two are only different in outward nature, but if one listens ‘in drowsiness half lost’, both represent the ‘poetry of earth’

8. Thematic Analysis • “The poetry of earth is never dead” This is the opening line of the poem and suggests a veneration of nature, as the poet perceives the beauty of nature to be eternal and everlasting • The beauty of nature is not constrained by time Nature’s poetry is as resonant in the winter as it is in the summer. It’s more obvious in summer, because of the myriad sounds to be heard, but for the attentive ear, winter holds the same charm.

9. JazakAllah Thank you