O Solitude! If I Must with Thee Dwell
O Solitude! If I Must with Thee Dwell - meaning Summary
Solitude with Kindred Spirits
Keats imagines solitude not as lonely urban isolation but as retreat into nature’s “observatory,” where hills, rivers, and woodland life offer calm. Yet he insists that the deepest pleasure is not scenery alone but the "sweet converse of an innocent mind": intellectual and emotional companionship. The poem elevates shared, kindred spirits fleeing to natural haunts as near the highest human bliss, blending pastoral description with a plea for intimate fellowship.
Read Complete AnalysesO Solitude! if I must with thee dwell, Let it not be among the jumbled heap Of murky buildings: climb with me the steep,— Nature's observatory—whence the dell, In flowery slopes, its river's crystal swell, May seem a span; let me thy vigils keep 'Mongst boughs pavilioned, where the deer's swift leap Startles the wild bee from the foxglove bell. But though I'll gladly trace these scenes with thee, Yet the sweet converse of an innocent mind, Whose words are images of thoughts refined, Is my soul's pleasure; and it sure must be Almost the highest bliss of human-kind, When to thy haunts two kindred spirits flee.
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