To Benjamin Robert Haydon. John Keats (1795-1821). Descriptive Poems: I. Personal: Great Writers. Bliss Carman, et al., eds. 1904. The World's Best Poetry. VII. Descriptive: Narrative

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VII. Descriptive: Narrative. 1904.

Descriptive Poems: I. Personal: Great Writers

To Benjamin Robert Haydon

John Keats (1795–1821)


GREAT spirits now on earth are sojourning:
He of the cloud, the cataract, the lake,
Who on Helvellyn’s summit, wide awake,
Catches his freshness from Archangel’s wing:
He of the rose, the violet, the spring,	5
The social smile, the chain for Freedom’s sake:
And lo! whose steadfastness would never take
A meaner sound than Raphael’s whispering.
And other spirits there are, standing apart
Upon the forehead of the age to come;	10
These, these will give the world another heart,
And other pulses. Hear ye not the hum
Of mighty workings?—
Listen awhile, ye nations, and be dumb.