by Keats · Cluster: Poet as Prophet · Prophet · Romantic Movement (Sensibility)
Abstract
Sonnet hailing the great living spirits (Wordsworth, Hunt, Haydon) as prophets of a coming age; the poet as prophet, artistic vocation and a new dawn.
Connections
Topoi: Poet as Prophet Archetypes: Prophet Themes & Concepts: Artist and Society Forms & Genres: Sonnet Historical References: Romantic Movement (Sensibility)
Testo integrale / Full text
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.
The social smile, the chain for Freedom’s sake:
And lo! — whose stedfastness 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;
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.