Happy is England! I could be content
Happy is England! I could be contentTo see no other verdure than its own;To feel no other breezes than are blownThrough its tall woods with high romances blent:Yet do I sometimes feel a languishmentFor skies Italian, and an inward groanTo sit upon an Alp as on a throne,And half forget what world or worldling meant.Happy is England, sweet her artless daughters;Enough their simple loveliness for me,Enough their whitest arms in silence clinging:Yet do I often warmly burn to seeBeauties of deeper glance, and hear their singing,And float with them about the summer waters.
Words in this poem
- blent p. p.
- Blinded. Also (Chaucer), 3d sing. pres. Blindeth.
- languishment n.
- The state of languishing.
- worldling
- A person whose soul is set upon gaining temporal possessions; one devoted to this world and its enjoyments. [World + -ling.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- warmly adv.
- In a warm manner; ardently.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Happy is England! I could be content is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems 1817, Project Gutenberg ebook #8209; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: John Keats, Happy is England! I could be content, in Poems (1817) (1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8209, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/keats-1817/happy-is-england-i-could-be-content.html, id L20525.
Form and metre
Happy is England! I could be content is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDEDEC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBAABBACDEDEC contentA · ownB · blownB · blentA · languishmentA · groanB · throneB · meantA · daughtersC · meD · clingingE · seeD · singingE · watersC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Happy is England! I could be content | 10 | /˘·/˘···/˘ |
| To see no other verdure than its own; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| To feel no other breezes than are blown | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Through its tall woods with high romances blent: | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Yet do I sometimes feel a languishment | 10 | ···/···/˘˘ |
| For skies Italian, and an inward groan | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| To sit upon an Alp as on a throne, | 10 | ·········· |
| And half forget what world or worldling meant. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Happy is England, sweet her artless daughters; | 11 | /˘·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Enough their simple loveliness for me, | 10 | ˘/·/˘/˘˘·· |
| Enough their whitest arms in silence clinging: | 11 | ˘/·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Yet do I often warmly burn to see | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Beauties of deeper glance, and hear their singing, | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| And float with them about the summer waters. | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.