Sunday, 9 August 2026

MUST READ AGAIN AND AGAIN

 

                MUST READ AGAIN AND AGAIN

                        Great literature including poetry is a thing of beauty which has eternal relevance. According to the English romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821) :

                        A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

                         Its loveliness increases; it will never

                        Pass into nothingness, but still will keep

                        A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

                        Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing

                        Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing

                        A flowery band to bind us to the earth,

                        Spite of despondence, of the human dearth

                        Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,

                        Of all the unhealthy and o’er darkn’d ways

                        Made for our searching yes, in spite of all,

                        Some shape of beauty moves away the pall

                        From our dark spirits. Such the sun , the moon,

                        Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon

                        For simple sheep; and such are daffodils

                        With the green world they live in, and clear rills

                        That for themselves a cooling covert make

                        ‘Gainst the hot season, the mid-forest brake,

                        Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms,

                        And such too is the grandeur of the dooms

                        We have imagined for the mighty dead;

                        An endless fountain of immortal drink,

                        Pour into us from the heaven’s brink.

            The lines given above are in the very beginning of Endymion,” a narrative poem by John Keats.  They are full of aesthetic joy and sublime poetic imagination. The poet supports his ideas by focusing on natural objects like the sun, the moon, the flowers, and splendid dooms made for mighty dead.

            There is both pleasure and purpose for the reader. We should get connected with beautiful things of the world to feel joyous and have a sleep full of sweet dreams.

              There are enough prose and poetic works in literature which are things of beauty and a source of eternal joy.  We shall have a look at them in coming days. They deserve to be read again and again.

                                    ********

G.R.Kanwal

9 August 2026

                       

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