If by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd ...

by John Keats

If by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd,
And, like Andromeda, the Sonnet sweet
Fetter'd, in spite of pained loveliness,
Let us find out, if we must be constrain'd,
Sandals more interwoven and complete
To fit the naked foot of poesy;
Let us inspect the lyre, and weigh the stress
Of every chord, and see what may be gain'd
By ear industrious, and attention meet;
Misers of sound and syllable, no less
Than Midas of his coinage, let us be
Jealous of dead leaves in the bay-wreath crown
So, if we may not let the Muse be free,
She will be bound with garlands of her own.

1819.

Source:

The poetical works of John Keats.
Copyright 1871
James Miller, 647 Broadway, New York
 

Recommended Works

And for that thou art Beauty, and thy name... - Anne WhitneyKeats's Last Sonnet - John KeatsTo My Brother - John KeatsTo J. H. Reynolds - John KeatsOn Leaving Some Friends At An Early Hour - John KeatsHow bravely Autumn paints upon the sky - Thomas HoodTo The Nile - John KeatsOn Seeing The Elgin Marbles - John KeatsOh! how I love, on a fair summer's eve, ... - John KeatsTo The Ocean - Thomas HoodBy every sweet tradition of true hearts,... - Thomas HoodThis pleasant tale is like a little copse: ... - John KeatsSo reed-like fragile, in the world's whirl nought... - Anne WhitneyTo A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses - John KeatsTo Ailsa Rock - John KeatsA Thought For A Lonely Death-Bed - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningO night, a terrible dismay still lurks... - Anne WhitneyOn The Sea - John KeatsTo George Sand: A Desire - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWritten In The Cottage Where Burns Was Born - John KeatsO fair mistrust of earth's more solid shows... - Anne WhitneyTo The Same - Anne WhitneyOn Fame (Fame, like a wayward girl, will still be coy ...). - John KeatsThe day is gone, and all its sweets are gone! ... - John KeatsNo slight caprice rules thee. -- Who sounds one note... - Anne WhitneyHow many bards gild the lapses of time! - John KeatsWork (What are we set on earth for? ...) - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningFrom all these mounds, though day blows fresh and warm, - Anne WhitneyExaggeration - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningO solitude! if I must with thee dwell, - John KeatsThe Human Seasons - John KeatsTo Homer - John KeatsTo An Enthusiast - Thomas HoodIf by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd ... - John KeatsOn A Picture Of Leander - John KeatsDarkness surrounds me with its phantom hosts... - Anne WhitneyAfter dark vapors have oppress'd our plains ... - John KeatsOf better fortune coming, then, talk not... - Anne WhitneyAlas! and yesternight I woke in terror, - Anne WhitneyWork And Contemplation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo A Young Lady Who Sent Me A Laurel Crown. - John KeatsTo A Sleeping Child - Thomas HoodLear - Thomas HoodHappy is England! I could be content ... - John KeatsOn A Dream - John KeatsComfort (Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet ...) - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWritten On The Day That Mr. Leigh Hunt Left Prison - John KeatsPerplexed Music - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningConsolation - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Fame (How fever'd is the man, who cannot look ...) - John KeatsFuturity - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWhy did I laugh to-night? - John KeatsTo Kosciusko - John KeatsOn A Portrait Of Wordsworth - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Sleep - John KeatsYet are there sunbeams, though the kingly sun... - Anne WhitneyTo George Sand: A Recognition - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Soul's Expression - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningDiscontent - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Prisoner - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningPatience Taught By Nature - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Haydon - John KeatsC. L'E. - Anne WhitneyAnswer To A Sonnet Ending Thus: -- - John KeatsWhen I have fears that I may cease to be ... - John KeatsThe Two Sayings - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningBereavement - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningInsufficiency - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningIn the still hours, a stiller strength was born - Anne WhitneyCheerfulness Taught By Reason - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo Fancy - Thomas HoodPast And Future - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningTo The Spirit - Anne WhitneyPain In Pleasure - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn The Grasshopper And Cricket - John KeatsGrief - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningWithin my life another life runs deep, - Anne WhitneyTo My Brother George - John KeatsOn First Looking Into Chapman's Homer - John KeatsTO G. A. W. - John KeatsTo ____. (My heart is sick with longing, though I feed) - Thomas HoodOn Receiving A Gift - Thomas HoodTo _. (Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs ...) - John KeatsThree Flowers - Thomas Bailey AldrichAddressed To Haydon - John KeatsTo one who has been long in city pent, ... - John KeatsAdequacy - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Look - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningKeen Fitful Gusts Are Whispering Here And There - John KeatsFalse Poets And True - Thomas HoodSubstitution - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Meaning Of The Look - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningThe Same (Might we make quest ...) - Anne WhitneyIrreparableness - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningDark rolling clouds in wild confusion driven... - Caroline Bowles SoutheyIt is not death, that sometime in a sigh... - Thomas HoodO high-born souls, such as God sends to mould... - Anne WhitneyTo _. (Time's sea hath been five years at its low ebb, ...) - John KeatsRead me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud - John KeatsNight - Anne WhitneyLargess from seven-fold heavens, I pray, descend... - Anne WhitneyStoop low, dear Night, a little star-breeze wakes - Anne WhitneyOn Sitting Down To Read King Lear Once Again. - John KeatsAn Apprehension - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningOn Leigh Hunt's Poem, The Story Of Rimini. - John KeatsThe Passion Flower - Anne WhitneyContinence - Anne WhitneyThou seem'st to solve the eternal unity... - Anne WhitneySonnet To A Sonnet - Thomas HoodThe Same (Twas then we said...) - Anne WhitneyTears - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningFor The Fourteenth Of February - Thomas HoodI cry your mercy -- pity -- love -- ay, love ... - John KeatsI dreamed an angel, Angel twice, through death... - Anne WhitneyThe Seraph And Poet - Elizabeth Barrett BrowningAddressed To The Same - John KeatsI know this spirit bridges unknown space... - Anne WhitneyThe world is with me, and its many cares... - Thomas HoodO Mankind's God! most silent and most lowly - Anne Whitney