Poem by John Keats

To a Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses

    Sonnet

As late I rambled in the happy fields,
What time the skylark shakes the tremulous dew
From his lush clover covert;—when anew
Adventurous knights take up their dinted shields;
I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,
A fresh-blown musk-rose; 'twas the first that threw
Its sweets upon the summer: graceful it grew
As is the wand that Queen Titania wields.
And, as I feasted on its fragrancy,
I thought the garden-rose it far excelled;
But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me,
My sense with their deliciousness was spelled:
Soft voices had they, that with tender plea
Whispered of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquelled. 

1. Song (“The stranger lighted from his steed”)
2. Song of Four Faries
3. On Receiving a Laurel Crown from Leigh Hunt
4. Bards of Passion and of Mirth
5. On Fame

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