Explore "Lines on the Mermaid Tavern" by John Keats on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
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?