Poem Analysis

Daily Assignment: Week 10 “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” by John Keats is a one stanza poem with interesting rhyme scheme. The poem is one stanza but seems divided in two for summer and winter. For the summer portion (first eight lines) the rhyme scheme is ABBAABB. The winter portion (remaining six lines) the rhyme scheme is ABCABC. This irregular rhyme scheme helps to further divide the poem into two parts within the same stanza. The intent of the author is to express his admiration for nature through his observations and show how everything has its own place in the natural world. He cherishes how the grasshopper and cricket thrive within nature with the warmth of a song, as well as enduring the harsher seasons regarding weather. They do this through adaptation such as finding a warm stove during the cold or hiding in a tree from the hot sun. The tone of the author is appreciative. We can see this by his repetition of the idea that the poetry of earth is immortal. Also, he admires the cricket and grasshopper’s ability to persevere so the poetry of earth will persist as well. “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket” by John Keats resembles “Heron Rises for the Dark, Summer Pond” by Mary Oliver. In each of these pomes, the author is admiring animals in the natural world. Keats regards a cricket’s and grasshopper’s ability to overcome the harsh weather conditions of their season, as well as their song. Oliver is observing and respecting how the long, heavy Heron combats the weight of the world through ascension. In both of these poems, there is symbolism of immortality. Keats repeats how the poetry of earth is eternal by never ceasing. In Oliver’s poem, the Heron signifies immortality by ascending into the air and is gone. This implies a presence of an eternal life and that death is not just a “hole in the ground.”