To One Who Has Been Long in City Pent
To one who has been long in city pent, 'Tis very sweet to look into the fair And open face of heaven,--to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament. Who is more happy, when, with heart's content, Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair And gentle tale of love and languishment? Returning home at evening, with an ear Catching the notes of Philomel,--an eye Watching the sailing cloudlet's bright career, He mourns that day so soon has glided by: E'en like the passage of an angel's tear That falls through the clear ether silently.
To One Who Has Been Long in City Pent - form Summary
A Sonnet of Escape
Keats uses the sonnet form to compress a movement from urban confinement to restorative nature. The poem addresses someone "long in city pent," then swiftly opens onto outdoor pleasures—blue sky, grassy lair, nightingale song—and closes with a poignant image of transience. The tight fourteen-line structure concentrates contrast and emotional relief, making the final simile of an "angel's tear" feel inevitable and quietly elegiac.
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