The Poetical Works of John Keats/To Spenser
For other versions of this work, see To Spenser.
TO SPENSER.[1]
Spenser! a jealous honorer of thine,
A forester deep in thy midmost trees,
Did, last eve, ask my promise to refine
Some English, that might strive thine ear to please.
But, Elfin-poet! 'tis impossible
For an inhabitant of wintry earth
To rise, like Phœbus, with a golden quill,
Fire-winged, and make a morning in his mirth.
It is impossible to 'scape from toil
O' the sudden, and receive thy spiriting:
The flower must drink the nature of the soil
Before it can put forth its blossoming:
Be with me in the summer days, and I
Will for thine honor and his pleasure try.
- ↑ From this point onwards, the poems printed in the present volume had not hitherto appeared in any of the editions of Keats's works.