By John Keats

On the grasshopper
and the cricket
John Keats
• Born in 1795 in London.
•Died in 1821 in Rome.
•Romantic School of Poetry
•Focus on Nature and the
Importance of Individual
•STRUCTURE

ITALIAN /PETRACHAN SONNET

•14 lines
•8 LINES = OCTAVE
•6 LINES = SESTET
•VOLTA – END OF LINE 8

OCTAVE = MAIN IDEA

SESTET = CONCLUSION

RHYME SCHEME
•OCTAVE: abba abba
•SESTET: cde cde
ON THE GRASSHOPPER AND CRICKET by John Keats

1 The poetry of earth is never dead;

2 When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
3 And hide in the cooling trees, a voice will run
4 From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
5 That is the Grasshopper’s – he takes the lead
6 In summer luxury, - he has never done
7 With his delights; for when tired out with fun
8 He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
9 The poetry of the earth is ceasing never:
10 On a lone winter evening, when the frost
11 Has wrought a silence, from the stove there
shrills
12 The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,
13 And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
14 The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.
OCTAVE
1 The poetry of earth is never dead: A
2 When all the birds are faint with the hot sun, B
3 And hide in the cooling trees, a voice will run B
4 From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead; A
5 That is the Grasshopper’s – he takes the lead A
6 In summer luxury, - he has never done B
7 With his delights; for when tired out with fun B
8 He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed. A
RHYME SCHEME - ABBA ABBA

THEME OF OCTAVE In the world of nature, poetry is never dead.

SETTING
Where: nature
When: summer

Nature can be harsh and beautiful at the same time.

LINE 1 THE POETRY OF EARTH IS NEVER DEAD:

•Refers to sounds made by nature:

•Trees, plants and animals like birds and insects.
•These sounds are always alive.
•Even in most terrible weather it does not diE.

•Identify the figure of speech.

•Explain why it is significant in this context.

FIGURE OF SPEECH: METAPHOR &

PERSONIFICATION
Metaphor: The sounds of nature sounds like
poetry
Personification: Sounds are seen to be alive

•COLON: Rest of poem will elaborate on this.

1 The poetry of earth is never dead:when all
2 The birds are faint with the hot sun, and hide
3 In the cooling trees, a voice will run from
4 hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;

LINE 2
•The birds are struggling in the heat of summer.

LINE 3-4
•They try to escape the heat. The trees provide
shade.
•They hide there and take shelter.
•ENJAMBMENT (also called a run-on-line)
•A voice will run from hedge to hedge …
•The enjambment strengthens the idea that the
sound will be moving.
3 And hide in the cooling trees, a voice will run
4 hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;

LINE 3
•A new voice is heard: the grasshopper
•Will run: creates energy and forward
movement
•When birds are too tired to sing, he
continues.

LINE 4
•Field has just been cut (new-mown).
•He flies from one mead (meadow or field) to
another.
•Hedge: group of bushes that creates a border.
•Grasshopper creates energy.
•This buzzing is heard continuously.
•The grasshopper never stops singing.
3 a voice will run
4 From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
5 That is the Grasshopper’s – he takes the lead

•When the sun made other creatures tired or weak

•the grasshopper fills the gap.
•Thread of beauty in nature
•Is never broken.
•LISTEN to the voice of nature.

LINE 4
•Semi-colon (;) introduces grasshopper in
line 5.
•Song heard first.
 5 That is the Grasshopper’s – he takes the lead
6 In summer luxury, - he has never done
7 With his delights; for when tired out with
fun
8 He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.

LINE 5
•He enjoys summer.
•He shows the other (takes lead) how to enjoy
summer.

LINE 6
•Summer = luxury in nature
 5 That is the Grasshopper’s – he takes the lead
6 In summer luxury, - he has never done
7 With his delights; for when tired out with fun
8 He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
LINE 6 – 7
•Enjambment to emphasise that he is never tired.
Does not stop.
•He tires from having fun, not from work.
LINE 8
•When he rests (stops singing), he relaxes in
the shade of a plant.
•The weed is “pleasant” and provides
shelter.
•We are at rest with the grasshopper.
How do you know it is summer?
•Positive descriptions.
•“hot sun”
•“cooling trees”
•“Newly-mown mead”
•“pleasant weed”
•“luxury”
SESTET
9 The poetry of the earth is ceasing never: C
10 On a lone winter evening, when the frost D
11 Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills E
12 The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever, C
13 And seems to one in drowsiness half lost, D
14 The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills E
•LINE 9
•Setting
When = winter
Where = a kitchen with a burning stove
•“Poetic licence” – poet is allowed to do that
•He repeats line 1 with slight difference.
•“never” in last position to emphasise and
repeat line 1.
•Ceasing never: stronger than line 1
•Thus: The poetry of earth never dies / never ceases.
•Line ends with a COLON (:).
•Now the story of the cricket follows in line 10 -14.
 10 On a lone winter evening, when the frost D
11 Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
E
12 The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever, C
13 And seems to one in drowsiness half lost, D
14 The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills E
LINE 10
Ends with a colon. NOW the CRICKET takes over.
The cricket comes alive in the dead season – winter.
Remember Keats was born in England where the winters are cold,
The snow absorbs noise, so it is quiet in nature.
LINE 10-11: enjambment
The frost brings silence and quiet BUT in the kitchen, behind the wooden
stove, you hear the cricket sings.
10 On a lone winter evening, when the frost
11 Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
12 the Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,

LINE 11-12
Enjambment – movement of song and warmth
Although it is winter and freezing and quiet outside,
the cricket creates warmth with its song.
It sings next to the stove.
Warmth and glow of fire CONTRASTS with extreme cold
created by winter is broken by shrill, piercing song of
cricket.
Instead of growing quiet, the cricket finds a corner in a
warm kitchen.
LINE 11
Why is the song “shrill” and piercing/sharp?
 11 Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
12 The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,
13 And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
14 The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills

LINE 11-12
The shrill sound grows louder and the high volume will wake a person
who has just started to fall asleep.
LINE 13
A person will, in this semi-sleepy state, confuse the song of the
grasshopper with that of the cricket.
The warmth of the stove made him drowsy.
LINE 14
The songs of the grasshopper and cricket melts together.
This emphasizes the unbroken thread of winter.
The intense heat of summer and the silence in nature are brought alive by the cold, frosty
silence of winter.
CONCLUSION
•The grasshopper and cricket will
survive the harshest forms of weather.
•Other animals will feel faint because of
summer’s heat.
•Grasshopper experiences summer as
time of joy.
•He sings and provides music to nature.
•In winter the animals are hibernating
and hiding.
•Then the cricket takes over from the
grasshopper. Now he sings to the world.
•Both insects keep the poetry of earth
alive.
THEMES
BEAUTY OF NATURE AND PRESENCE OF GOD
•Sonnet describes physical world and beauty of
nature.
•Communication animals have with nature.
•Natural sounds are voices of nature. Nature speaks
to us.
HOPE
•Poetry of earth symbolizes beauty and endurance.
•Like the poetry of earth, hope does not die.
•Conditions in nature are harsh, but the poetry of
nature survives.
IMMORTALITY
•The eternal, never-ending beauty of nature is
described.
•The beauty of nature, life and love of poetry will
never die.
DICTION AND FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

ENJAMBMENT
•The run-on lines show the interconnectedness
between animals and nature.
ALLITERATION
•New-mown mead: emphasizes musicality
songlike quality in nature
PERSONIFICATION
•Line 10-11: The frost has wrought a silence –
Frost is personified as a person who brings
silence.
REPETITION
•Line 1 and Line 9: The poetry of earth is never
dead / ceasing never… Emphasis
IMAGERY
•The Poetry of earth (line 1 and 9):
•Nature has its own sounds. These come from
buzzing of insects and calls of birds. This is called
the Voice of the earth which is represented as the
poetry of earth.
METAPHOR: In the octave the grasshopper
represents summer and in the sestet the cricket
represents winter.
TONE AND MOOD:
SESTET - Harshness of winter softened by
warmth of stove.
OCTAVE - Images of heat: harshness softened by
“cooling trees”
Joy and merriment. The sounds create a mood of
celebration. Lyrical sound, the sound of music
SPEAKER: third person speaker refers to
grasshopper as “he”.
•Thank you, Matrics!