On the Grasshopper and the Cricket from John Keats

by stellahappy (student)

Another famous entitled two insects is "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket". It was written by John Keats in a competition against Leigh Hunt, his great friend Leigh Hunt, as to who could write the best verse in a short time on a specified topic. Keats won on this occasion. The sonnet vividly depicts two creatures that easily be neglected by people, which reflects the poets’ belief that the beauty of nature never ends.

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;

This first line is an epic introduction. “hot sun” and “cooling trees” show a strike contrast, which indicates the reason why the chirping birds stop singing. However, The music of earth does not come to an end. Another voice is echoing “from hedge to hedge”. The integration of movement and stillness makes the scene lively. Here, the author threw mists before the reader’s eyes and didn’t specify the source of the voice.

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.

In the second stanza, Keats reveals the source of the voice. Instead of using the word “it”, Keats chooses the word “he” and the grasshopper is equal to human beings as endowed with human emotions. He enjoys himself by singing and jumping, as passionate as the heat in summer. “delights”, “fun” and “pleasant” are ...

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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.

The poetry of earth is ceasing never:

On a lone winter evening, when the frost

Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills

In the second verse, Keats reiterates the never-ending music of nature, serving as a connecting link between the preceding and the following. An atmosphere of silence and loneliness prevails. But even then the poetry of earth continues without a break.The scene changes from a sweltering summer day to “a lone winter evening”. Just as the frost brings coldness to home, a shrill sound punctuates the silence.

The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,

And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,

The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.

Again, it was not until the last part of the poem that Keats introduces “the cricket’s song”. Cricket is also regarded as a person. It suggests that the cricket can sing and the beauty of its song. While people are giving in to the drowsiness and lost because of the disagreeable chill in the air, the cricket, in his little body, shrills with increasing volume. His song brings warmth and reminds people of the grasshopper in summer. The passage of time and cycle of seasons is reflected in the last line.

There rarely are songs of joy and music on earth in summer and winter, as they are the toughest seasons of the year. In summer it is extremely hot and in winter it is unbearably cold. The title itself forces the reader to acknowledge the roles that the Grasshopper and the Cricket play in this poetry. Keats further confirms the authority of the Grasshopper and the Cricket, which are equal to human, if not superior to human. In the first verse, the grasshopper, an appreciator of the summer luxury, is assigned with human emotions. He is pleasant celebrating the summer season and exhausted when tired out with fun. In the second verse, amid the cold air in winter, the song of the cricket warms human beings who are already lost in drowsiness. The cricket is the spirit of winter that continues to chirp even when all the other creatures, including human beings, are worn out. By praising the beauty of common insects in the relatively unpleasant moments in summer and winter, the poet exhibits his acute perception and shows that the beauty of nature never ends.