Lyric Poem · Nature
To A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses
by John Keats
1As late I rambled in the happy fields,
2What time the skylark shakes the tremulous dew
3From his lush clover covert;—when anew
4Adventurous knights take up their dinted shields;
5I saw the sweetest flower wild nature yields,
6A fresh-blown musk-rose; 'twas the first that threw
7Its sweets upon the summer: graceful it grew
8As is the wand that Queen Titania wields.
9And, as I feasted on its fragrancy,
10I thought the garden-rose it far excelled;
11But when, O Wells! thy roses came to me,
12My sense with their deliciousness was spelled:
13Soft voices had they, that with tender plea
14Whispered of peace, and truth, and friendliness unquelled.
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“To A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses” by John Keats — quilloak.com/poems/to-a-friend-who-sent-me-some-roses
Quick facts
- Poem
- To A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses
- Poet
- John Keats
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Summer, Friendship
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
- Line length
- Lines run 9-11 syllables (median 10), consistent with pentameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- John Keats1795–1821
- Source record
- PoetryDBTo A Friend Who Sent Me Some Roses by john-keats, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 8ff323c66443fb36…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.