On The Sea

by John Keats

It keeps eternal whisperings around
Desolate shores, and with its mighty swell
Gluts twice ten thousand caverns, till the spell
Of Hecate leaves them their old shadowy sound.
Often 'tis in such gentle temper found,
That scarcely will the very smallest shell
Be moved for days from where it sometime fell,
When last the winds of heaven were unbound.
O ye! who have your eyeballs vexed and tired,
Feast them upon the wideness of the Sea;
O ye! whose ears are dinn'd with uproar rude,
Or fed too much with cloying melody, --
Sit ye near some old cavern's mouth, and brood
Until ye start, as if the sea-nymphs quired!

Aug 1817.

Source:

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

Recommended Works

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