To a Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses
As late I rambled in the happy fields,What time the sky-lark shakes the tremulous dewFrom his lush clover covert;--when anewAdventurous knights take up their dinted shields:I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,A fresh-blown musk-rose; 'twas the first that threwIts sweets upon the summer: graceful it grewAs is the wand that queen Titania wields.And, as I feasted on its fragrancy,I thought the garden-rose it far excell'd:But when, O Wells! thy roses came to meMy sense with their deliciousness was spell'd:Soft voices had they, that with tender pleaWhisper'd of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquell'd.
Words in this poem
- lush a.
- Full of juice or succulence. [Prob. an abbrev. of lushious, fr. luscious.]
- fragrancy n.
- The quality of being fragrant; sweetness of smell; a sweet smell; a pleasing odor; perfume. [L. fragrantia: cf. OF. fragrance.]
- deliciousness n.
- The quality of being delicious; as, the deliciousness of a repast.
- friendliness n.
- The condition or quality of being friendly. Sir P. Sidney.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To a Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses 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, To a Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses, in Poems (1817) (1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8209, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/keats-1817/to-a-friend-who-sent-me-some-roses.html, id L20519.
Form and metre
To a Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 ABBAABBA-CDCD- fieldsA · dewB · anewB · shieldsA · yieldsA · threwB · grewB · wieldsA · fragrancy · excell'dC · meD · spell'dC · pleaD · unquell'd
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 |
|---|---|---|
| As late I rambled in the happy fields, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| What time the sky-lark shakes the tremulous dew | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| From his lush clover covert;--when anew | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Adventurous knights take up their dinted shields: | 10 | ˘/˘····/˘· |
| I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields, | 10 | ···/˘/·/˘· |
| A fresh-blown musk-rose; 'twas the first that threw | 10 | ·········· |
| Its sweets upon the summer: graceful it grew | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| As is the wand that queen Titania wields. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| And, as I feasted on its fragrancy, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I thought the garden-rose it far excell'd: | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My sense with their deliciousness was spell'd: | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Soft voices had they, that with tender plea | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Whisper'd of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquell'd. | 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.