“On the grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats is a fine piece of sonnet written in December 1816. Their songs are the poetry of earth, poetry that never ceases to be, even during extreme circumstances. The Grasshoppers happiness never decreases while the Cricket’s warmth steadily increases, until the line between summer and winter blurs and one is aware of nothing except the beautiful melodies of both tiny creatures blending into one unceasing song. This what Keats means when he writes that near the stove, "shrills / The Cricket's song." Their songs are the poetry of earth, poetry that never ceases to be, even during extreme circumstances. They sing joyfully without a long break. On the Grasshopper and Cricket praises the continuous beauty of nature by taking into account the song of two particular insects, the grasshopper and the cricket. John Keats was born in London on 31 October 1795, the eldest of Thomas and Frances Jennings Keats’s four children. Those who work hard during the spring time lead comfortable life even during the harsh times. It is short and goes away quickly and is followed by harsh time. To be precise, the poet here celebrates the ‘poetry of earth’ – the music of nature which is omnipresent. The spring or the good time does not remain forever. The central idea of the poem is that one should make the best use of his time like the ant. Question 3: Find in the poem lines that match the following: (i) The grasshopper’s happiness never comes to an end. Answer: The poem has fourteen lines and it can be divided into one octet and one sestet, following the Petrarchan sonnet form. The central idea of the poem is tenacity of the grasshopper and the cricket to provide us entertainment and joy to us through their respective songs. It appears to pay homage to the allusiveness and economy of classic Japanese poetry. It has an ABBA rhyme scheme and it is written in iambic pentameter. The title of the poem highlights the role of both Grasshopper and Cricket as main players. The Nobel Prize winner’s prose, critics generally agree, is highly poetic. The poetry of earth is made of the chirping of birds in trees, and a grasshopper’s sound.

The two opening lines of the octave and the sestet “The poetry of earth is never dead” …

The poem was inspired by the beauty of nature, the most common theme among the Romantic poets. The central idea of the poem is tenacity of the grasshopper and the cricket to provide us entertainment and joy to us through their respective songs. Although he died at the age of twenty-five, Keats had perhaps the most remarkable career of any English poet. (ii) The cricket’s song has a warmth that never decreases.