About the Poet (John Keats)
John Keats was a prolific English poet of the Romantic era, widely considered to be one of the greatest poets in the English language. His works, including “Ode to a Nightingale” and “To Autumn,” are renowned for their lyrical beauty and exploration of themes such as love, nature, and mortality.
However, among his vast body of work, there is one poem that stands out for its mischievous and playful tone – “Naughty Boy.” This seemingly light-hearted and whimsical poem has often been overlooked in the analysis of Keats’ work, but upon closer examination, it reveals deeper layers of meaning and insight into the poet’s personal life and literary style.
The poem, “The Naughty Boy”, has four stanzas. This is the fourth stanza of the poem. For a reading of the entire poem click here.
Audio for the Naughty Boy
The Naughty Boy. John Keats (1795-1821)
There was a naughty boy,
And a naughty boy was he;
He ran away to Scotland
The people there to see.
Then he found
That the ground
Was as hard
That a yard
Was as long,
That a song
Was as merry,
That a cherry
Was as red,
That lead
Was as weighty.
That fourscore Was as eighty,
That a door
Was as wooden
As in England.
So he stood in his shoes
And he wondered,
He wondered;
He stood in his shoes
And he wondered.
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