by Keats · Cluster: Ode · Nature vs Civilization · Pastoral Retreat
Abstract
Sonnet preferring solitude amid nature to the murky city, yet crowning it with the converse of a kindred mind; nature versus the city, solitude and friendship.
Connections
Topoi: Pastoral Retreat Motifs: City, Nature Themes & Concepts: Nature vs Civilization, Friendship Forms & Genres: Sonnet
Testo integrale / Full text
O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled heap
Of murky buildings; climb with me the steep, —
Nature’s observatory — whence the dell,
Its flowery slopes, its river’s crystal swell,
May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep
’Mongst boughs pavillion’d, where the deer’s swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the fox-glove bell.
But though I’ll gladly trace these scenes with thee,
Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
Whose words are images of thoughts refin’d,
Is my soul’s pleasure; and it sure must be
Almost the highest bliss of human-kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.