by Keats · Cluster: Greek Mythology · Lust Sexual Desire · Desire
Abstract
An ode-fragment invoking Maia and the old Greek bards, wishing for their ‘old vigour’ and contentment in simple worship. It treats poetic vocation, classical antiquity, and the immortality of art.
Connections
Topoi: Immortality Through Verse Themes & Concepts: Immortality of Art Fame Forms & Genres: Ode, Fragment Historical References: Greek Mythology, Classical Antiquity
Testo integrale / Full text
Written on May Day, 1818
Mother of Hermes! and still youthful Maia!
May I sing to thee
As thou wast hymned on the shores of Baiae?
Or may I woo thee
In earlier Sicilian? or thy smiles
Seek as they once were sought, in Grecian isles,
By bards who died content on pleasant sward,
Leaving great verse unto a little clan?
O, give me their old vigour, and unheard
Save of the quiet primrose, and the span
Of heaven and few ears,
Rounded by thee, my song should die away
Content as theirs,
Rich in the simple worship of a day.