John Keats: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

To Spenser

John Keats

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

John Keats: Collected Lyrics Text 60 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

Spenser! a jealous honorer of thine,

A forester deep in thy midmost trees,

Did, last eve, ask my promise to refine

Some English, that might strive thine ear to please.

But, Elfin-poet! 'tis impossible

For an inhabitant of wintry earth

To rise, like Phœbus, with a golden quill,

Fire-winged, and make a morning in his mirth.

Verse 2

It is impossible to 'scape from toil

O' the sudden, and receive thy spiriting:

The flower must drink the nature of the soil

Before it can put forth its blossoming:

Be with me in the summer days, and I

Will for thine honor and his pleasure try.

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 Spenser”

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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