English History

  • Poets
    • Byron
      • Letters
      • Poems
    • Keats
      • Letters
      • Poetry
    • Shakespeare
      • Poetry
      • Plays
    • Tennyson
  • Middle Ages
  • Vikings
  • Romans
  • Kings and Queens
    • Stuarts
    • Tudor
  • About
    • History of English Art
    • Privacy & Cookie Policy
    • Contact
    • The Right to Display Public Domain Images
    • Author & Reference Information For Students

To Some Ladies – John Keats Poem

What though while the wonders of nature exploring,
I cannot your light, mazy footsteps attend;
Nor listen to accents, that almost adoring,
Bless Cynthia’s face, the enthusiast’s friend:
Yet over the steep, whence the mountain stream rushes,
With you, kindest friends, in idea I rove;
Mark the clear tumbling crystal, its passionate gushes,
Its spray that the wild flower kindly bedews.

Why linger you so, the wild labyrinth strolling?
Why breathless, unable your bliss to declare?
Ah! you list to the nightingale’s tender condoling,
Responsive to sylphs, in the moon beamy air.

’Tis morn, and the flowers with dew are yet drooping,
I see you are treading the verge of the sea:
And now! ah, I see it—you just now are stooping
To pick up the keep-sake intended for me.

If a cherub, on pinions of silver descending,
Had brought me a gem from the fret-work of heaven;
And smiles, with his star-cheering voice sweetly blending,
The blessings of Tighe had melodiously given;

It had not created a warmer emotion
Than the present, fair nymphs, I was blest with from you
Than the shell, from the bright golden sands of the ocean
Which the emerald waves at your feet gladly threw.

For, indeed, ’tis a sweet and peculiar pleasure,
(And blissful is he who such happiness finds,)
To possess but a span of the hour of leisure,
In elegant, pure, and aerial minds.

Link/cite this page

If you use any of the content on this page in your own work, please use the code below to cite this page as the source of the content.

Link will appear as Hanson, Marilee. "To Some Ladies – John Keats Poem" https://englishhistory.net/keats/poetry/to-some-ladies/, March 6, 2015

You are here: Home » Keats » Poetry » To Some Ladies – John Keats Poem

Search English History

More Keats Content

  • John Keats Biography
  • Keats Timeline
  • Fanny Brawne Facts
  • John Keats Poems
  • Ode on a Grecian Urn
  • La Belle Dame sans Merci
  • Song of the Indian Maid
  • Ode on Melancholy
  • Ode to a Nightingale
  • When I have fears that I may Cease to Be
  • Bright Star Poem
  • More English Poets

Popular Posts

On first looking into Chapman’s Homer by John Keats
On Receiving a Curious Shell….
The Human Seasons by John Keats
Woman! when I behold thee flippant, vain….
The Eve of St Agnes by John Keats – Summary & Analysis
Lines on the Mermaid Tavern – John Keats Poem
Ode to Psyche by John Keats; An introduction, annotations & summary
Dedication. To Leigh Hunt, Esq – John Keats Poem
In drear-nighted December by John Keats
Imitation of Spenser By John Keats

The Tudors

Lord Byron

John Keats

shakespeare

Copyright © 1999-2023 All Rights Reserved.
English History
Other Sites: Make A Website Hub

Copyright © 2023 · English History 2015