Poems about Grasshoppers and Crickets

John Keats (1795-1821) was part of the Romanticism movement in poetry.  In 1816 he wrote “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” as a celebration of the natural world.  In this poem, he highlights how these little insects carry on the “song” of nature throughout the year. 

“On the Grasshopper and Cricket” by John Keats

The Poetry of earth is never dead:    
  When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,    
  And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run    
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;    
That is the Grasshopper’s—he takes the lead      
  In summer luxury,—he has never done    
  With his delights; for when tired out with fun    
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.    
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:    
  On a lone winter evening, when the frost     
    Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills    
The Cricket’s song, in warmth increasing ever,    
  And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,    
    The Grasshopper’s among some grassy hills. 

The lines I really enjoy in this poem are “The Poetry of the earth is never dead”, and then ‘The poetry of the earth is ceasing never”.  With these lines, Keats notices that the earth continues to create, sing, and inspire poetry with its presence no matter the season.

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Dan Beachy-Quick (b.1973) is an associate professor of English at Colorado State University and the author of seven books of poetry. 

Beachy-Quick is also the author of A Brighter Word Than Bright: Keats at Work.  In this book, Beachy-Quick provides a chronological examination of Keats’ life through his poems and letters. 

And even though I couldn’t find any definitive proof that Beachy-Quick’s “The Cricket and the Grasshopper” is a direct response to Keats’ “On the Grasshopper and Cricket”, based on Beachy-Quick’s scholarly pursuits I can only assume it is.

“The Cricket and the Grasshopper” by Dan Beachy-Quick

The senseless leaf   in the fevered hand
Grows hot, near blood-heat, but never grows
Green. Weeks ago the dove’s last cooing strain
Settled silent in the nest to brood slow
Absence from song. The dropped leaf cools
On the uncut grass, supple still, still green,
Twining still these fingers as they listless pull
The tangle straight until the tangle tightens
And the hand is caught, another fallen leaf.
The poetry of the earth never ceases
Ceasing — one blade of grass denies belief
Until its mere thread bears the grasshopper’s
Whole weight, and the black cricket sings unseen,
Desire living in a hole beneath the tangle’s green.

Beachy-Quick repeats Keats’ line, “The poetry of the earth never ceases” and mirrors the silencing of bird song in the afternoon heat.  There is also a parallel between Keats’ “He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed” and Beachy-Quick’s “Desire living in a hole beneath the tangle’s green.” I think it is safe to say this is a poetic response to Keats’ work.

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NPR’s 2-Minute Listen on Insect Sounds

Not sure what all these insects sound like?

NPR’s Renee Montagne did a two-minute interview with evolutionary biologist Laurel Symes on insect sounds. You can listen here to find out the difference between crickets, cicadas, and katydids.

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Resources:

1. PoetryFoundation.org: Keats, “On the Grasshopper and Cricket”
2. PoetryFoundation.org: Beachy-Quick, “The Cricket and the Grasshopper”
3. Beachy-Quick, Dan. A Brighter Word Than Bright: Keats at Work
4. NPR’s 2-Minute Listen- “Insect Sounds: Telling Crickets, Cicadas And Katydids Apart”

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