The English Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821) wrote "On the Grasshopper and Cricket" during an 1816 sonnet competition with his friend Leigh Hunt; he published the poem in his first collection, Poems (1817). In this poem, the constant cheerful song of the "Grasshopper" and the "Cricket" assures the speaker that "the poetry of earth is never dead": the natural world, the poem suggests, is bound together by an unbroken thread of joy.
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The Full Text of “On the Grasshopper and Cricket”
1The poetry of earth is never dead:
2When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
3And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
4From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
5That is the Grasshopper's—he takes the lead
6In summer luxury,—he has never done
7With his delights; for when tired out with fun
8He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
9The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
10On a lone winter evening, when the frost
11Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
12The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,
13And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
14The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.
The Full Text of “On the Grasshopper and Cricket”
1The poetry of earth is never dead:
2When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
3And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
4From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
5That is the Grasshopper's—he takes the lead
6In summer luxury,—he has never done
7With his delights; for when tired out with fun
8He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
9The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
10On a lone winter evening, when the frost
11Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
12The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,
13And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
14The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.
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“On the Grasshopper and Cricket” Summary
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“On the Grasshopper and Cricket” Themes
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The Enduring Beauty of Nature
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “On the Grasshopper and Cricket”
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Lines 1-4
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; -
Lines 5-8
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. -
Lines 9-12
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, -
Lines 13-14
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.
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“On the Grasshopper and Cricket” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Personification
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Imagery
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Metaphor
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Repetition
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“On the Grasshopper and Cricket” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Faint
- New-mown mead
- At ease
- Ceasing never
- Wrought
- Wrought
- Shrills
- Warmth increasing ever
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “On the Grasshopper and Cricket”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“On the Grasshopper and Cricket” Speaker
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“On the Grasshopper and Cricket” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “On the Grasshopper and Cricket”
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More “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” Resources
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External Resources
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A Brief Biography — Learn about Keats's life and work via the British Library.
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The Keats-Shelley Museum — Visit the website of the Keats-Shelley House in Rome to learn more about Keats's short, brilliant life.
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The Keats Letters Project — Learn more about Keats's life as a writer at the Keats Letters Project, which publishes Keats's lively letters alongside short exploratory essays.
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The Sonnet Competition — Read this poem in conversation with Hunt's entry in the sonnet-writing competition (along with some opinons from the internet peanut gallery on who won!).
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Keats and Leigh Hunt — Read about Keats's important (if sometimes troubled) relationship with Leigh Hunt.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by John Keats
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