John Keats: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

To Haydon

John Keats

“To Haydon” as printed in The Poetical Works of John Keats (1884).

John Keats: Collected Lyrics Text 59 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

Haydon! forgive me that I cannot speak

Definitely of these mighty things;

Forgive me, that I have not eagle's wings,

That what I want I know not where to seek.

And think that I would not be over-meek,

In rolling out upfollowed thunderings,

Even to the steep of Heliconian springs,

Were I of ample strength for such a freak.

Think, too, that all these numbers should be thine;

Whose else? In this who touch thy vesture's hem?

For, when men stared at what was most divine

With brainless idiotism and o'erwise phlegm,

Thou hadst beheld the full Hesperian shine

Of their star in the east, and gone to worship them!

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), “To Haydon”

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

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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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