The Gothic Looks Solemn
The Gothic Looks Solemn - meaning Summary
Satire of Rural Ecclesiastical Life
Keats presents a quiet, ironic scene of provincial church life, contrasting solemn Gothic architecture with everyday neighbors and petty clergy. The poem lightly satirizes ritual and rank—chantries, steeple-bells, the Chancellor—while depicting comfortable parsons and communal feasting on venison. It compresses social observation into brisk snapshots, showing how religious formality and local custom mingle with ordinary commerce and appetite.
Read Complete Analyses1 The Gothic looks solemn, The plain Doric column Supports an old bishop and crosier; The mouldering arch, Shaded o’er by a larch, Stands next door to Wilson the Hosier. 2 Vice–that is, by turns,– O’er pale faces mourns The black tassell’d trencher and common hat; The chantry boy sings, The steeple-bell rings, And as for the Chancellor–dominat. 3 There are plenty of trees, And plenty of ease, And plenty of fat dear for parsons; And when it is venison, Short is the benison,– Then each on a leg or thigh fastens.
The poem was written by John Keats in 1817, Oxford.
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