Souls of Poets dead and gone
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?
-John Keats
This beautiful ballad was written by Keats as he longed to converse with the long dead patrons of the Mermaid Tavern, whose company included Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and other Elizabethan dramatists. In the days when many were still illiterate, shops would post signs illustrative of their profession: a shoe for a cobbler, a hat for a hatter, a mermaid with a beer in hand for a bar. The simplicity of this ballad contributes not only to a unity of poetic voice, but also allows compels us to imagine a group of tavern-goers singing this anthem to a night of merryment.
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