Lines on the Mermaid Tavern
Souls of Poets dead and gone,What Elysium have ye known,Happy field or mossy cavern,Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?Have ye tippled drink more fineThan mine host's Canary wine?Or are fruits of ParadiseSweeter than those dainty piesOf venison? O generous food!Drest as though bold Robin HoodWould, with his maid Marian,Sup and bowse from horn and can.
I have heard that on a dayMine host's sign-board flew away,Nobody knew whither, tillAn astrologer's old quillTo a sheepskin gave the story,Said he saw you in your glory,Underneath a new old-signSipping beverage divine,And pledging with contented smackThe Mermaid in the Zodiac.
Souls of Poets dead and gone,What Elysium have ye known,Happy field or mossy cavern,Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?
Words in this poem
- elysium n.
- A dwelling place assigned to happy souls after death; the seat of future happiness; Paradise.
- mermaid n.
- A fabled marine creature, typically represented as having the upper part like that of a woman, and the lower like a fish; a sea nymph, sea woman, or woman fish. [AS. mere lake, sea. See Mere lake, and maid.]
- tippled a.
- Intoxicated; inebriated; tipsy; drunk.
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- venison n.
- Beasts of the chase. Fabyan. [OE. veneison, veneson, venison, OF. veneison, F. venaison, L. venatio hunting, the chase, game, fr. venari, p. p. venatus, to hunt; perhaps akin to OHG. weidin,]
- generous a.
- Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
- marian a.
- Pertaining to the Virgin Mary, or sometimes to Mary, Queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII.
- bowse v. i.
- To carouse; to bouse; to booze. De Quincey. [See Booze, and Bouse.]
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
- whither adv.
- To what place; -- used interrogatively; as, whither goest thou [OE. whider. AS. hwider; akin to E. where, who; cf. Goth. hvadre whither. See Who, and cf. Hither, Thither.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Lines on the Mermaid Tavern is in the public domain. This text is taken from Keats: Poems Published in 1820 (Clarendon Press, 1909, ed. M. Robertson), Project Gutenberg ebook #23684; 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, Lines on the Mermaid Tavern, in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems (1820), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #23684, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/keats-1820/lines-on-the-mermaid-tavern.html, id L00189.
Form and metre
Lines on the Mermaid Tavern is 26 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 85% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, as Alden 1903 has it. 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 7 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 35% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 AAAABB----CC goneA · knownA · cavernA · tavernA · fineB · wineB · paradise · pies · food · hood · marianC · canC
- 2 AABBCCDDEE dayA · awayA · tillB · quillB · storyC · gloryC · signD · divineD · smackE · zodiacE
- 3 AAAA goneA · knownA · cavernA · tavernA
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Souls of Poets dead and gone, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| What Elysium have ye known, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Happy field or mossy cavern, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern? | 8 | /˘··/·/˘ |
| Have ye tippled drink more fine | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Than mine host's Canary wine? | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Or are fruits of Paradise | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Sweeter than those dainty pies | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Of venison? O generous food! | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Drest as though bold Robin Hood | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Would, with his maid Marian, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Sup and bowse from horn and can. | 7 | ······· |
| I have heard that on a day | 7 | ······· |
| Mine host's sign-board flew away, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Nobody knew whither, till | 7 | /···/˘· |
| An astrologer's old quill | 7 | ·˘/˘˘·· |
| To a sheepskin gave the story, | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| Said he saw you in your glory, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Underneath a new old-sign | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Sipping beverage divine, | 7 | /˘/˘˘˘/ |
| And pledging with contented smack | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| The Mermaid in the Zodiac. | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| Souls of Poets dead and gone, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| What Elysium have ye known, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Happy field or mossy cavern, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern? | 8 | /˘··/·/˘ |
On this poem
What things have we seen Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been So nimble and so full of subtle flame, As if that any one from whence they came Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest, And has resolved to live a fool the rest Of his dull life.
Notes from the edition 3
Introduction and notes by M. Robertson, Keats: Poems Published in 1820 (Clarendon Press, 1909).
- Stanza 1, line 10 bold Robin Hood. Cf. Robin Hood, p. 133.
- Stanza 1, line 12 bowse, drink.
PAGE 132. ll. 16-17. an astrologer's . . . story. The astrologer would record, on parchment, what he had seen in the heavens. - Stanza 2, line 10 The Mermaid . . . Zodiac. The zodiac was an imaginary belt across the heavens within which the sun and planets were supposed to move. It was divided into twelve parts corresponding to the twelve months of the year, according to the position of the moon when full. Each of these parts had a sign by which it was known, and the sign of the tenth was a fish-tailed goat, to which Keats refers as the Mermaid. The word zodiac comes from the Greek +zôdion+, meaning a little animal, since originally all the signs were animals.
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