Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SONNET (TO THE NILE), by JOHN KEATS


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SONNET (TO THE NILE), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Son of the old moon-mountains african
Last Line: And to the sea as happily dost haste.
Subject(s): Nile (river)


Son of the old moon-mountains African!
Chief of the Pyramid and Crocodile!
We call thee fruitful, and, that very while,
A desert fills our seeing's inward span;
Nurse of swart nations since the world began,
Art thou so fruitful? or dost thou beguile
Such men to honour thee, who, worn with toil,
Rest for a space 'twixt Cairo and Decan?
O may dark fancies err! they surely do;
'Tis ignorance that makes a barren waste
Of all beyond itself, thou dost bedew
Green rushes like our rivers, and doth taste
The pleasant sun-rise, green isles hast thou too,
And to the sea as happily dost haste.




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