#MIDDLEBURY
Modern Love
John Keats
And what is love? It is a doll dress’d up
For idleness to cosset, nurse, and dandle;
A thing of soft misnomers, so divine
That silly youth doth think to make itself
Divine by loving, and so goes on
Yawning and doting a whole summer long,
Till Miss’s comb is made a pearl tiara,
And common Wellingtons turn Romeo boots;
Then Cleopatra lives at number seven,
And Antony resides in Brunswick Square.
Fools! if some passions high have warm’d the world,
If Queens and Soldiers have play’d deep for hearts,
It is no reason why such agonies
Should be more common than the growth of weeds.
Fools! make me whole again that weighty pearl
The Queen of Egypt melted, and I’ll say
That ye may love in spite of beaver hats.
About this poem
“Modern Love” was first published in “Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of John Keats” (George P. Putnam, 1848).
About John Keats
John Keats was born on Oct. 31, 1795, in London. His collections of poetry include “Poems” (Charles and James Ollier, 1817) and “Endymion: A Poetic Romance” (Taylor and Hessey, 1818). He died on Feb. 23, 1821.
The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit, mission-driven organization, whose aim is to make poetry available to a wider audience. Email The Academy at poem-a-day@poets.org.
This poem is in the public domain. Originally published in Poem-a-Day, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
