MERMAID TAVERN

THE MERMAID TAVERN

by

John Keats

(1795 - 1821)

Souls of Poets dead and gone,

What Elysium have ye known,

Happy field or mossy cavern,

Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?

Have ye tippled drink more fine

Than mine host's Canary wine:

Or are fruits of Paradise

Sweeter than those dainty pies

Of Venison?  O generous food!

Drest as though bold Robin Hood

Would, with his Maid Marian,

Sup and bowse from horn and can.

I have heard that on a day

Mine host's sign-board flew away

Nobody knew whither, till

An astrologer's old quill

To a sheepskin gave the story --

Said he saw you in your glory

Underneath a new-old Sign

Sipping beverage divine,

And pledging with contented smack

The Mermaid in the Zodiac!

Souls of Poets dead and gone,

What Elysium have ye known --

Happy field or mossy cavern

Choicer than the Mermaid Tavern?

Bio:  Born in London in 1795, Keats became a medical student. Introduced to the Romantics by Leigh Hunt, he became acquainted with Shelley.  In 1816, he published his first set of sonnets in the Examiner.  This was followed a year later by his first book of poems. Although not initially a success, his second book, Lamia and Other Poems, included his most endearing works.  Dying of tuberculosis, he sailed to Italy, where he died in Rome in 1821.