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The Presentation of Nature in the poem: “On the Grasshopper and the Cricket”

      The presentation of nature exists in many poems and represents by many different ways from things as great as the beach in the poem “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold to things as simply and tiny as a flower in “The Flower-Fed Buffaloes” by Vachel Lindsay. Keats is not an exception in the this trend as nature is described with the consistence of many messages by using the image of the grasshopper and the cricket with the landscape surrounds them.

      The first impression that the readers may get from the messages Keats sends into his poem is the feeling of pleasant, sensual and enjoyable side of nature. This showed mainly in the octave stanza of the poem, first of all, by the phrase “summer luxury”. This sibilance technique creates the “s” sound, which makes a feeling of long, but also relaxing of the nature in the summer. Also, the word “luxury” itself suggests the satisfaction of feeling, of anything which pleased the senses. Furthermore, it helps supporting Keats’ idea about nature as it is lively and cheerful. Moreover, the poet shows his delicately in word choice by using words such as “rests”, “ease” and “pleasant” to develop more to his idea, makes the readers get his full message more clearly and precisely. This encourages the readers to think that nature offers all creature needs, provides them with its calm and kind. Nature likes a mother that it makes the grasshopper to enjoy its feeling in the simplest way, without fear or disruption. This is another way of thinking for this message.

      Then, Keats uses the impression above to develop another idea for nature as it respects everything on Earth, even the smallest creatures like the grasshopper in this case. As we all know, grasshopper is a small, fragile and active creature, therefore, its sound is also small and easy to fade into many “visible” and loud sounds. However, in his poem, Keats shows the readers that...