Poem by John Keats

Written upon the Top of Ben Nevis

    Sonnet

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
         Vapourous 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!
         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 might!

1. What the Thrush Said
2. Written in Answer to a Sonnet by J.H. Reynolds
3. To a Lady Seen for a Few Moments at Vauxhall
4. Song (“The stranger lighted from his steed”)
5. Song of Four Faries

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