John Keats(1795–1821)
On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again
O golden-tongued Romance with serene lute!
Fair plumed Siren! Queen of far away!enchantress
Leave melodizing on this wintry day,
Shut up thine olden pages, and be mute:
Adieu! for once again the fierce dispute
Betwixt damnation and impassioned clay
Must I burn through; once more humbly assay 0test
The bitter-sweet of this Shakespearean fruit.
Chief Poet! and ye clouds of Albion,4
Begetters of our deep eternal theme,
When through the old oak forest I am gone,
Let me not wander in a barren dream,
But when I am consumed in the fire,
Give me new Phoenix 5 wings to fly at my desire.
1838