To Leigh Hunt, Esq
Glory and loveliness have passed away;For if we wander out in early morn,No wreathed incense do we see upborneInto the east, to meet the smiling day:No crowd of nymphs soft voic'd and young, and gay,In woven baskets bringing ears of corn,Roses, and pinks, and violets, to adornThe shrine of Flora in her early May.But there are left delights as high as these,And I shall ever bless my destiny,That in a time, when under pleasant treesPan is no longer sought, I feel a freeA leafy luxury, seeing I could pleaseWith these poor offerings, a man like thee.
Words in this poem
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- flora n.
- The goddess of flowers and spring. [L., the goddess of flowers, from flos, floris, flower. See Flower.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
To Leigh Hunt, Esq 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 Leigh Hunt, Esq, in Poems (1817) (1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8209, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/keats-1817/to-leigh-hunt-esq.html, id L00400.
Form and metre
To Leigh Hunt, Esq is 14 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 36% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 ABBAABBAC-CDCD awayA · mornB · upborneB · dayA · gayA · cornB · adornB · mayA · theseC · destiny · treesC · freeD · pleaseC · theeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Glory and loveliness have passed away; | 10 | /˘·/˘˘··˘/ |
| For if we wander out in early morn, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| No wreathed incense do we see upborne | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Into the east, to meet the smiling day: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| No crowd of nymphs soft voic'd and young, and gay, | 10 | ·········· |
| In woven baskets bringing ears of corn, | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| Roses, and pinks, and violets, to adorn | 10 | /˘···/˘·˘/ |
| The shrine of Flora in her early May. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But there are left delights as high as these, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| And I shall ever bless my destiny, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| That in a time, when under pleasant trees | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Pan is no longer sought, I feel a free | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| A leafy luxury, seeing I could please | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘/··· |
| With these poor offerings, a man like thee. | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
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.