John Keats: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

Ben Nevis

John Keats

“Ben Nevis” as printed in The Poetical Works of John Keats (1884).

John Keats: Collected Lyrics Text 5 1884 · historical text
Public domainSong lyricsRomantic
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Poetical Works of John Keats, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Read me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud

Upon the top of Nevis, blind in mist!

I look into the chasms, and a shroud

Vaporous doth hide them,—just so much I wist

Mankind do know of hell; I look o'erhead,

And there is sullen mist, even so much

Mankind can tell of heaven; mist is spread

Before the earth, beneath me,—even such,

Even so vague is man's sight of himself!

Verse 2

Here are the craggy stones beneath my feet,—

Thus much I know that, a poor witless elf,

I tread on them,—that all my eye doth meet

Is mist and crag, not only on this height,

But in the world of thought and mental night!

Credits

Written by John Keats

Words by John Keats. Historical text published in The Poetical Works of John Keats (1884); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Poetical Works of John Keats (1884), “Ben Nevis”

Every text in this 1884 collected edition is by John Keats (1795-1821), who died more than 200 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

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Retrieved 2026-10-27. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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