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Poetry · Poem

Fragment of an Ode to Maia

John KeatsEnglish RomanticismPoem
SOURCE TEXT · English original
MOTHER of Hermes! and still youthful Maia!
May I sing to thee
As thou wast hymnèd on the shores of Baiæ?
Or may I woo thee
In earlier Sicilian? or thy smiles
Seek as they once were sought, in Grecian isles,
By bards who died content on pleasant sward,
Leaving great verse unto a little clan?
O give me their old vigour! and unheard
Save of the quiet primrose, and the span
Of heaven, and few ears,
Rounded by thee, my song should die away
Content as theirs,
Rich in the simple worship of a day.
Cultural reading

Reading the poem

The speaker asks in what manner he may sing to Maia, wishes for the old vigour of poets who died content leaving great verse to a small circle, and hopes his own song may die away unheard except by a primrose and a few ears.

Language notes

Text and edition

The supplied heading itself declares the text a fragment of an ode, so what is given is not a complete poem.