On Receiving a Laurel Crown from Leigh Hunt
On Receiving a Laurel Crown from Leigh Hunt - context Summary
Presented a Laurel Crown
Keats wrote this sonnet in 1817 and published it in 1819 to mark Leigh Hunt presenting him with a laurel crown. It records gratitude and embarrassment at sudden recognition, mixing pride with pressure to produce an "immortal thought." The poem balances aspiration and self-doubt: the laurel promises literary fame but also heightens Keats's restless imagination, which instead drifts to grand fantasies of overturning worldly honors rather than delivering the perfect poem.
Read Complete AnalysesMinutes are flying swiftly, and as yet Nothing unearthly has enticed my brain Into a delphic Labyrinth I would fain Catch an immortal thought to pay the debt I owe to the kind Poet who has set Upon my ambitious head a glorious gain. Two bending laurel Sprigs ’tis nearly pain To be conscious of such a Coronet. Still time is fleeting, and no dream arises Gorgeous as I would have it only I see A Trampling down of what the world most prizes Turbans and Crowns, and blank regality; And then I run into most wild surmises Of all the many glories that may be.
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