Classics and the Western Canon discussion

For this two week interim read, let’s take a break with some nature poems, starting this week with two sonnets.

Background: In December 1816, two English friends held their own informal poetry writing contest. Each had fifteen minutes (!) to write a sonnet on a set subject. Here are the two poems they wrote on the subject of the grasshopper and the cricket. The first poem is by Leigh Hunt, and the second by John Keats.

1. To The Grasshopper And The Cricket

Green little vaulter in the sunny grass
Catching your heart up at the feel of June,
Sole voice that's heard amidst the lazy noon,
When ev'n the bees lag at the summoning brass;
And you, warm little housekeeper, who class
With those who think the candles come too soon,
Loving the fire, and with your tricksome tune
Nick the glad silent moments as they pass;
Oh sweet and tiny cousins, that belong,
One to the fields, the other to the hearth,
Both have your sunshine; both though small are strong
At your clear hearts; and both were sent on earth
To sing in thoughtful ears this natural song,—
In doors and out, summer and winter, Mirth.

2. On the Grasshopper and the Cricket

The Poetry of earth is never dead:    
  When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,    
  And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run    
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;    
That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead      
  In summer luxury,—he has never done    
  With his delights; for when tired out with fun    
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.    
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:    
  On a lone winter evening, when the frost     
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills    
The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,    
  And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,    
The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills.

(The first is read aloud here: https://youtu.be/hjCDEqy5pes?si=ZLK2w...
And the second poem is read aloud here: https://youtu.be/b4ziG8tk4vY?si=5wmCr... )

Apparently each poet felt the other had won the competition. Do you have a preference? What images/lines stand out to you? Did these poems prompt you to see the subjects in a different way? It may be interesting to look at the adjectives each poet used. Could you write a sonnet in 15 minutes on any subject? I’m pretty sure I couldn’t.

And here’s another completely different take: https://poets.org/poem/r-p-o-p-h-e-s-...

No contest as far as I'm concerned. Keats is the clear winner. I suspect he was just being charitable when he claimed Leigh Hunt won the competition.
So much to love about the poem. Some of my favorite lines:

The Poetry of earth is never dead.

A voice will run/from hedge to hedge

He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed

The poetry of earth is ceasing never

The lines are so very Keatsian and echo the words from some of his odes.

Keats is definitely the winner. I like “He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed” because of the alliteration, and I also like the phrase “when the frost / has wrought a silence.” The contrast between summer and winter is also nice.

“To Autumn” is another great seasonal poem of his.

I like the artistry of Keats' poem better as well.

That said, I appreciate Hunt's second quatrain.

And you, warm little housekeeper, who class
With those who think the candles come too soon,
Loving the fire, and with your tricksome tune
Nick the glad silent moments as they pass;

It brings us into a cozy and comforting indoor scene on a long winter night. The cricket "classing" with us humans indoors and marking time with its nicks, connects us with nature, the changing seasons, and the rhythm of the poem itself. The volta on lines 9-10 connects the cricket to the grasshopper, but because of the work done in the second quatrain, we are now, by proxy, connected to the wider world too.

When the Keats version uses the cricket to connect us to the outdoors and summer, it feels much more longing and melancholic. The poem takes its time getting there, buidling and delivering its punch in the last lines.

I believe the Cummings version (found in that last link), r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r, is also a sonnet. It's quite extreme in its attempt to marry subject and form. You could either work hard to decipher it or simply let your eyes wander over it and casually recognize potential word forms. Either approach will also connect you as a reader to a sense of "grasshopperiness." (I guess a third option would be to just shrug, give up, and walk away pretending you never clicked the link. I almost did that.)

I like Hunt's sonnet best because it sounds more musical to me. Make up a tune and sing along with the verse and the syllables almost jump like a cricket, especially with the stress on the last syllable of each line. It's not as meaningful as Keats' poem, but there's more energy to it, and that seems appropriate for the subject.

It reminds me a little of the Josquin de Prez piece "Il Grillo" (the Cricket). The music sounds jumpy and bouncy like a cricket, so it enhances the meaning of the words, or emphasizes something about them. Hunt almost accomplishes the same thing in verse without the music. And in 15 minutes? Incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_EsM...