Human Seasons - Keats

August 18th, 2006

284. Human Seasons. J. Keats. The Golden Treasury

FOUR Seasons fill the measure of the year;  
There are four seasons in the mind of man:—  
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear  
Takes in all beauty with an easy span:  
  
He has his Summer, when luxuriously          5
Spring’s honey’d cud of youthful thought he loves  
To ruminate, and by such dreaming high  
Is nearest unto heaven: quiet coves  
  
His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings  
He furleth close; contented so to look   10
On mists in idleness—to let fair things  
Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook:  
  
He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,  
Or else he would forego his mortal nature.