"On The Sea" by John Keats (1795-1821)

This poem by John Keats (1795-1821), the great romantic poet of England, brings forth the motion of the waves and the profoundity of the ocean with the swirl of his verses. Try to read it aloud! You'll notice how each word pushes forward the other, and how the sounds of the syllables join together in a wavery melody. It's almost magical!

ON THE SEA

It keeps eternal whisperings around
Desolate shores, and with its mighty swell
Gluts twice ten thousand caverns; till the spell
Of Hecate leaves them their old shadowy sound.

Often 'tis in such gentle temper found
That scarcely will the very smallest shell
Be moved for days from whence it sometime fell,
Where the last winds of heaven were unbound.

O ye who have your eyeballs vext and tir'd
Feast them upon the wilderness of the sea;

O ye whose ears are dinned with uproar rude
Or fed too much with cloying melody -

Sit ye near some old cavern's mouth and brood
Until ye start as if the sea nymphs quired.