O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell,
Let it not be among the jumbled
Of murky buildings: climb with me the steep,— Nature's observatory—whence the dell,
In flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell,
May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep'Mongst boughs pavilioned, where the deer's swift
Startles the wild bee from the foxglove bell.
But though I'll gladly trace these scenes with thee,
Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind,
Whose words are images of thoughts refined,
Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must
Almost the highest bliss of human-kind,
When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.'This Sonnet, published in The Examiner for the 5th of May 1816, signed "J.
K.," is stated by Charles Cowden Clarke (Gentleman's Magazine for February 1874) to be "Keats's first published poem." In Tom Keats's copy-book it is headed "Sonnet to Solitude," and undated.
The only variation is in line 9,-- "I'd" for "I'll." The Examiner reads "rivers" for "river's" in line 5, and lines 9 and 10 stand thus -- Ah! fain would I frequent such scenes with thee;
But the sweet converse of an innocent mind.'~ Poetical Works of John Keats, ed.
H.
Buxton Forman,
Crowell publ. 1895.
