{
 "id": "john-keats/sleep-and-poetry",
 "title": "Sleep and Poetry",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Keats",
 "poet_slug": "john-keats",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 13,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": "As I lay in my bed slepe full unmete / Was unto me, but why that I ne might / Rest I ne wist, for there n’ as erthly wight / (As I suppose) had more of hertis ese / Than I, for I n’ ad sicknesse nor disese.",
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1817,
  "venue": "Poems (1817)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poems008365mbp"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-keats_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/completepoetical01keat",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005261190"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 407,
  "n_stanzas": 18,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 54,
  "max_indent": 3
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "What is more gentle than a wind in summer?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What is more soothing than the pretty hummer",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That stays one moment in an open flower,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And buzzes cheerily from bower to bower?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What is more tranquil than a musk-rose blowing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In a green island, far from all men’s knowing?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More healthful than the leafiness of dales?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More secret than a nest of nightingales?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More serene than Cordelia’s countenance?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More full of visions than a high romance?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What, but thee, Sleep? Soft closer of our eyes!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Low murmurer of tender lullabies!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Light hoverer around our happy pillows!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wreather of poppy buds, and weeping willows!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Silent entangler of a beauty’s tresses!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Most happy listener! when the morning blesses",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thee for enlivening all the cheerful eyes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That glance so brightly at the new sunrise.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "But what is higher beyond thought than thee?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Fresher than berries of a mountain-tree?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More strange, more beautiful, more smooth, more regal,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than wings of swans, than doves, than dim-seen eagle?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What is it? And to what shall I compare it?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It has a glory, and nought else can share it:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The thought thereof is awful, sweet, and holy,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Chasing away all worldliness and folly:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Coming sometimes like fearful claps of thunder,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or the low rumblings earth’s regions under;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sometimes like a gentle whispering",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of all the secrets of some wond’rous thing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That breathes about us in the vacant air;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So that we look around with prying stare,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Perhaps to see shapes of light, aerial limning;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And catch soft floatings from a faint-heard hymning;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To see the laurel wreath, on high suspended,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That is to crown our name when life is ended.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sometimes it gives a glory to the voice,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And from the heart up-springs, rejoice! rejoice!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sounds which will reach the Framer of all things,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And die away in ardent mutterings.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No one who once the glorious sun has seen,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And all the clouds, and felt his bosom clean",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For his great Maker’s presence, but must know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What ’tis I mean, and feel his being glow:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Therefore no insult will I give his spirit,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By telling what he sees from native merit.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O Poesy! for thee I hold my pen,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That am not yet a glorious denizen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of thy wide heaven⁠—should I rather kneel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon some mountaintop until I feel",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A growing splendour round about me hung,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And echo back the voice of thine own tongue?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O Poesy! for thee I grasp my pen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That am not yet a glorious denizen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of thy wide heaven; yet, to my ardent prayer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yield from thy sanctuary some clear air,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Smoothed for intoxication by the breath",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of flowering bays, that I may die a death",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of luxury, and my young spirit follow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The morning sunbeams to the great Apollo",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like a fresh sacrifice; or, if I can bear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The o’erwhelming sweets, ’twill bring to me the fair",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Visions of all places: a bowery nook",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will be elysium⁠—an eternal book",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whence I may copy many a lovely saying",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "About the leaves, and flowers⁠—about the playing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of nymphs in woods, and fountains; and the shade",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Keeping a silence round a sleeping maid;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And many a verse from so strange influence",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That we must ever wonder how, and whence",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It came. Also imaginings will hover",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Round my fire-side, and haply there discover",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Vistas of solemn beauty, where I’d wander",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In happy silence, like the clear Meander",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through its lone vales; and where I found a spot",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of awfuller shade, or an enchanted grot,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or a green hill o’erspread with chequer’d dress",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of flowers, and fearful from its loveliness,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Write on my tablets all that was permitted,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All that was for our human senses fitted.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then the events of this wide world I’d seize",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like a strong giant, and my spirit tease",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till at its shoulders it should proudly see",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wings to find out an immortality.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Stop and consider! life is but a day;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A fragile dewdrop on its perilous way",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From a tree’s summit; a poor Indian’s sleep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "While his boat hastens to the monstrous steep",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Montmorenci. Why so sad a moan?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Life is the rose’s hope while yet unblown;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The reading of an ever-changing tale;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The light uplifting of a maiden’s veil;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A pigeon tumbling in clear summer air;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A laughing school-boy, without grief or care,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Riding the springy branches of an elm.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O for ten years, that I may overwhelm",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Myself in poesy; so I may do the deed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That my own soul has to itself decreed.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then I will pass the countries that I see",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In long perspective, and continually",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Taste their pure fountains. First the realm I’ll pass",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Flora, and old Pan: sleep in the grass,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Feed upon apples red, and strawberries,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And choose each pleasure that my fancy sees;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Catch the white-handed nymphs in shady places,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To woo sweet kisses from averted faces,⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Play with their fingers, touch their shoulders white",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into a pretty shrinking with a bite",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As hard as lips can make it: till agreed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A lovely tale of human life we’ll read.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And one will teach a tame dove how it best",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "May fan the cool air gently o’er my rest;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Another, bending o’er her nimble tread,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will set a green robe floating round her head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And still will dance with ever-varied ease,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Smiling upon the flowers and the trees:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Another will entice me on, and on",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Through almond blossoms and rich cinnamon;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till in the bosom of a leafy world",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "We rest in silence, like two gems upcurl’d",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the recesses of a pearly shell.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And can I ever bid these joys farewell?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Yes, I must pass them for a nobler life,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where I may find the agonies, the strife",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of human hearts: for lo! I see afar,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O’ersailing the blue cragginess, a car",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And steeds with streamy manes⁠—the charioteer",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Looks out upon the winds with glorious fear:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And now the numerous tramplings quiver lightly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Along a huge cloud’s ridge; and now with sprightly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wheel downward come they into fresher skies,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tipt round with silver from the sun’s bright eyes.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Still downward with capacious whirl they glide;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And now I see them on a green-hill’s side",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In breezy rest among the nodding stalks.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The charioteer with wond’rous gesture talks",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the trees and mountains; and there soon appear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Shapes of delight, of mystery, and fear.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Passing along before a dusky space",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Made by some mighty oaks: as they would chase",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some ever-fleeting music, on they sweep.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lo! how they murmur, laugh, and smile, and weep:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some with upholden hand and mouth severe;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some with their faces muffled to the ear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Between their arms; some, clear in youthful bloom,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Go glad and smilingly athwart the gloom;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some looking back, and some with upward gaze;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yes, thousands in a thousand different ways",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Flit onward⁠—now a lovely wreath of girls",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Dancing their sleek hair into tangled curls;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And now broad wings. Most awfully intent",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The driver of those steeds is forward bent,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And seems to listen: O that I might know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All that he writes with such a hurrying glow.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The visions all are fled⁠—the car is fled",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the light of heaven, and in their stead",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A sense of real things comes doubly strong,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And, like a muddy stream, would bear along",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My soul to nothingness: but I will strive",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Against all doubtings, and will keep alive",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The thought of that same chariot, and the strange",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Journey it went.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Is there so small a range",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In the present strength of manhood, that the high",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Imagination cannot freely fly",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As she was wont of old? prepare her steeds,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Paw up against the light, and do strange deeds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Upon the clouds? Has she not shown us all?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the clear space of ether, to the small",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Breath of new buds unfolding? From the meaning",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Jove’s large eyebrow, to the tender greening",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of April meadows? here her altar shone,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "E’en in this isle; and who could paragon",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The fervid choir that lifted up a noise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of harmony, to where it aye will poise",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its mighty self of convoluting sound,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Huge as a planet, and like that roll round,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Eternally around a dizzy void?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ay, in those days the Muses were nigh cloy’d",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With honours; nor had any other care",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Than to sing out and soothe their wavy hair.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Could all this be forgotten? Yes, a schism",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nurtured by foppery and barbarism,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Made great Apollo blush for this his land.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Men were thought wise who could not understand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His glories: with a puling infant’s force",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They sway’d about upon a rocking-horse,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thought it Pegasus. Ah, dismal-soul’d!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The winds of heaven blew, the ocean roll’d",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its gathering waves⁠—ye felt it not. The blue",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bared its eternal bosom, and the dew",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of summer nights collected still to make",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The morning precious: beauty was awake!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Why were ye not awake? But ye were dead",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To things ye knew not of,⁠—were closely wed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To musty laws lined out with wretched rule",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And compass vile: so that ye taught a school",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of dolts to smooth, inlay, and clip, and fit,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Till, like the certain wands of Jacob’s wit,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their verses tallied. Easy was the task:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A thousand handicraftsmen wore the mask",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Poesy. Ill-fated, impious race!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That blasphem’d the bright Lyrist to his face,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And did not know it,⁠—no, they went about,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Holding a poor, decrepid standard out,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mark’d with most flimsy mottoes, and in large",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The name of one Boileau!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O ye whose charge",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "It is to hover round our pleasant hills!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Whose congregated majesty so fills",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "My boundly reverence, that I cannot trace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Your hallowed names, in this unholy place,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So near those common folk; did not their shames",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Affright you? Did our old lamenting Thames",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Delight you? did ye never cluster round",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Delicious Avon, with a mournful sound,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And weep? Or did ye wholly bid adieu",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To regions where no more the laurel grew?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Or did ye stay to give a welcoming",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To some lone spirits who could proudly sing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their youth away, and die? ’Twas even so:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But let me think away those times of woe:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Now ’tis a fairer season; ye have breathed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Rich benedictions o’er us; ye have wreathed",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fresh garlands: for sweet music has been heard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In many places;⁠—some has been upstirr’d",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From out its crystal dwelling in a lake,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By a swan’s ebon bill; from a thick brake,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nested and quiet in a valley mild,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bubbles a pipe; fine sounds are floating wild",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "About the earth: happy are ye and glad.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These things are, doubtless; yet in truth we’ve had",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Strange thunders from the potency of song;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mingled indeed with what is sweet and strong",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From majesty: but in clear truth the themes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are ugly clubs, the Poets Polyphemes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Disturbing the grand sea. A drainless shower",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of light is Poesy; ’tis the supreme of power;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis might half slumb’ring on its own right arm.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The very archings of her eyelids charm",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A thousand willing agents to obey,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And still she governs with the mildest sway:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But strength alone though of the Muses born",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is like a fallen angel: trees uptorn,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Darkness, and worms, and shrouds, and sepulchres",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Delight it; for it feeds upon the burrs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And thorns of life; forgetting the great end",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Poesy, that it should be a friend",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To soothe the cares, and lift the thoughts of man.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Yet I rejoice: a myrtle fairer than",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "E’er grow in Paphos, from the bitter weeds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lifts its sweet head into the air, and feeds",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A silent space with ever sprouting green.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "All tenderest birds there find a pleasant screen,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Creep through the shade with jaunty fluttering,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nibble the little cupped flowers and sing.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then let us clear away the choking thorns",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From round its gentle stem; let the young fawns,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yeanèd in after-times, when we are flown,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Find a fresh sward beneath it, overgrown",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With simple flowers: let there nothing be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "More boisterous than a lover’s bended knee;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nought more ungentle than the placid look",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of one who leans upon a closèd book;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nought more untranquil than the grassy slopes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Between two hills. All hail, delightful hopes!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As she was wont, th’ imagination",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into most lovely labyrinths will be gone,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And they shall be accounted poet kings",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who simply tell the most heart-easing things.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "O may these joys be ripe before I die.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Will not some say that I presumptuously",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Have spoken? that from hastening disgrace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Twere better far to hide my foolish face?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That whining boyhood should with reverence bow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ere the dread thunderbolt could reach? How!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If I do hide myself, it sure shall be",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the very fane, the light of Poesy:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If I do fall, at least I will be laid",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Beneath the silence of a poplar shade;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And over me the grass shall be smooth shaven;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And there shall be a kind memorial graven.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But off, Despondence! miserable bane!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "They should not know thee, who athirst to gain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A noble end, are thirsty every hour.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "What though I am not wealthy in the dower",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of spanning wisdom; though I do not know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The shiftings of the mighty winds that blow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Hither and thither all the changing thoughts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of man: though no great minist’ring reason sorts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Out the dark mysteries of human souls",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To clear conceiving: yet there ever rolls",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A vast idea before me, and I glean",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Therefrom my liberty; thence too I’ve seen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The end and aim of Poesy. ’Tis clear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As anything most true; as that the year",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Is made of the four seasons⁠—manifest",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As a large cross, some old cathedral’s crest.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lifted to the white clouds. Therefore should I",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be but the essence of deformity,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A coward, did my very eyelids wink",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At speaking out what I have dared to think.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ah! rather let me like a madman run",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Over some precipice; let the hot sun",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Melt my Dædalian wings, and drive me down",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Convuls’d and headlong! Stay! an inward frown",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of conscience bids me be more calm awhile.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An ocean dim, sprinkled with many an isle,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Spreads awfully before me. How much toil!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "How many days! what desperate turmoil!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ere I can have explored its widenesses.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ah, what a task! upon my bended knees,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I could unsay those⁠—no, impossible!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Impossible!",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For sweet relief I’ll dwell",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "On humbler thoughts, and let this strange assay",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Begun in gentleness die so away.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "E’en now all tumult from my bosom fades:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I turn full-hearted to the friendly aids",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That smooth the path of honour; brotherhood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And friendliness the nurse of mutual good.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The hearty grasp that sends a pleasant sonnet",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Into the brain ere one can think upon it;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The silence when some rhymes are coming out;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And when they’re come, the very pleasant rout:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The message certain to be done to-morrow.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "’Tis perhaps as well that it should be to borrow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Some precious book from out its snug retreat,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To cluster round it when we next shall meet.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Scarce can I scribble on; for lovely airs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Are fluttering round the room like doves in pairs;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Many delights of that glad day recalling,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When first my senses caught their tender falling.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And with these airs come forms of elegance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Stooping their shoulders o’er a horse’s prance,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Careless, and grand⁠—fingers soft and round",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Parting luxuriant curls;⁠—and the swift bound",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of Bacchus from his chariot, when his eye",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Made Ariadne’s cheek look blushingly.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thus I remember all the pleasant flow",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of words at opening a portfolio.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Things such as these are ever harbingers",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To trains of peaceful images: the stirs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of a swan’s neck unseen among the rushes:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A linnet starting all about the bushes:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A butterfly, with golden wings broad parted,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nestling a rose, convuls’d as though it smarted",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With over pleasure⁠—many, many more,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Might I indulge at large in all my store",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of luxuries: yet I must not forget",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sleep, quiet with his poppy coronet:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For what there may be worthy in these rhymes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I partly owe to him: and thus, the chimes",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of friendly voices had just given place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To as sweet a silence, when I ’gan retrace",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The pleasant day, upon a couch at ease.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "It was a poet’s house who keeps the keys",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of pleasure’s temple. Round about were hung",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The glorious features of the bards who sung",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In other ages⁠—cold and sacred busts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Smiled at each other. Happy he who trusts",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To clear Futurity his darling fame!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Then there were fauns and satyrs taking aim",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At swelling apples with a frisky leap",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And reaching fingers, ’mid a luscious heap",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of vine leaves. Then there rose to view a fane",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of liny marble, and thereto a train",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of nymphs approaching fairly o’er the sward:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "One, loveliest, holding her white hand toward",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The dazzling sunrise: two sisters sweet",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Bending their graceful figures till they meet",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Over the trippings of a little child:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And some are hearing, eagerly, the wild",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thrilling liquidity of dewy piping.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "See, in another picture, nymphs are wiping",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cherishingly Diana’s timorous limbs;⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A fold of lawny mantle dabbling swims",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "At the bath’s edge, and keeps a gentle motion",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the subsiding crystal: as when ocean",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Heaves calmly its broad swelling smoothiness o’er",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Its rocky marge, and balances once more",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The patient weeds; that now unshent by foam",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Feel all about their undulating home.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Sappho’s meek head was there half smiling down",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "At nothing; just as though the earnest frown",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of over-thinking had that moment gone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From off her brow, and left her all alone.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Great Alfred’s too, with anxious, pitying eyes,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As if he always listened to the sighs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the goaded world; and Kosciusko’s, worn",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "By horrid suffrance⁠—mightily forlorn.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Petrarch, outstepping from the shady green,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Starts at the sight of Laura; nor can wean",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "His eyes from her sweet face. Most happy they!",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For over them was seen a free display",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of outspread wings, and from between them shone",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The face of Poesy: from off her throne",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "She overlook’d things that I scarce could tell.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The very sense of where I was might well",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Keep Sleep aloof: but more than that there came",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thought after thought to nourish up the flame",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Within my breast; so that the morning light",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Surprised me even from a sleepless night;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And up I rose refresh’d, and glad, and gay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Resolving to begin that very day",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These lines; and howsoever they be done,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I leave them as a father does his son.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}