Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875.

John Keats

CCXXIX. The Mermaid Tavern

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 signboard 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?