On The Grasshopper and Cricket: Summary & Exercise

Summary of On the Grasshopper and Cricket

In this article, we will be reading the On the Grasshopper and Cricket summary. This poem is a fine piece of Petrarchan sonnet by the famous poet John Keats. He wrote this poem in December 1816. It is inspired by the beauty of nature. Poets usually find beauty and poetry in spring and good weather. But Keats is different as he finds nature beautiful in all seasons including hot summer and cold winter.

The poet symbolizes the grasshopper as hot summer and the cricket as a very cold winter. He says that even when the birds stop singing during the hot summers, the Earth still sings. The grasshopper sings tirelessly during this time flying from the hedge. The poet further says that during the cold winter also the Earth keeps expressing pleasure through cricket. A cricket sings through the stones.

On the Grasshopper and Cricket Summary

In the poem ‘On the Grasshopper and Cricket’, the poet John Keats celebrates the music of the Earth. He finds beauty in hot summer as well as in the cold winter. Here, in this poem, the grasshopper is a symbol of hot summer and cricket is a symbol of cold winter. The poet says that the music of nature or earth is always alive whether it is hot summer or cold and bleak winter.

During the hot summer, all the singing birds are tired and take a rest under the shady branches of trees. But even if they don’t sing the song of nature goes on. We can still hear the voice of the grasshopper who runs from hedge to hedge. He keeps singing tirelessly and when tired rests beneath some weed.

A grasshopper carries on the duty of singing the everlasting song of nature. During summers, he is a fun-loving and cheerful creature and is never done with his delights.

During the cold winter season also, the birds are silent. There is utter silence on the frosty winter days. But the earth has its own way of expressing pleasure and joy. The song of a cricket can be heard which breaks this silence.

He sings from the stones but not from the trees. His song appears to be increasing the warmth every moment. People are able to hear it sitting in their houses. However, the poet says that to a person who is half-asleep, it may appear to be a grasshopper’s song coming from the grassy hills.

Thus, we can say that the grasshopper and the cricket, two tiny insects, perform a big responsibility. They carry on with nature’s continuous and everlasting music irrespective of the extreme climates. The poet has thus personified them. It is thus a symbolic poem. Here, the grasshopper and the cricket are a symbol of the constant joyous mood of nature.

Conclusion of On the Grasshopper and Cricket

The poem teaches us that we shall be joyful and pleasant no matter what are the situations in our life. With this attitude, we can easily overcome all the obstacles in life.

On the Grasshopper and the Cricket: Explanation

Part - I

The sonnet opens with the poet asserting that the ‘poetry of earth’, the ‘voice of nature’ is always live. Even when all the singing birds are tired in the hot summer and take shelter under the shady branches of trees, nature’s song can still be heard. A voice that runs then from hedge to hedge and around the freshly-cut grasslands (mead) is the Grasshopper.

The Grasshopper has the luxury of taking over the duty of carrying on with the everlasting song of the earth in summer, as he is ‘never done with his delights. The Grasshopper is fun-loving and cheerful in summer. He takes rest under the pleasant weeds only when he is ‘tired out with fun’.

Part - II

The poet repeats the main theme of the sonnet that the voice of earth never comes to an end. On an isolated winter evening, when the frost has put everyone and everything into silent mode, you can still hear the song of Cricket coming from the stove. So, the chilly atmosphere forces the cricket to seek warmth indoors but cannot stop his music. Rather, his music gets louder with time (in warmth increasing ever).

To a man who is feeling sleepy (in drowsiness half-lost) the Cricket’s song sounds like the Grasshopper’s voice among some grassy hills. The poet means that people like to feel the warmth of summer even in bleak winter by mistaking the Cricket’s song for the Grasshopper’s.

Summing it Up

So, the Grasshopper and the Cricket carry on with nature’s persistent music, no matter what the season is or how the atmosphere remains. Though they are two very little insects, they take the big responsibility. That is why the poet has used personification on them by capitalizing their names and using personal pronouns like ‘he’ and ‘his’.

New Words

Faint: She got fainted due to prolonged illness.

Hide: The thief hid behind the curtain.

Delights: He gets delighted in playing cricket.

Shrill: The children shrilled by seeing snakes in the garden.

Drowsiness: Some students feel drowsy after having their breakfast.

Key Points

• The earth is full of poetry.
• In the summer season, all the birds hide in the cooling shades.
• But the grasshopper sings in the hot summer season
• He enjoys the hot summer season.
• The poetry of earth never stops.
• The shrill sound is heard in the very cold winter season.
• This is the sound of a cricket.
• Even the drowsy person when hears the sound feels it as the grasshopper’s sound.

Summary

It is a symbolic poem in which the grasshopper is a symbol of hot summer and the cricket is of very cold winter. Every poet has been attracted to the beauty of nature. John Keats is no exception to this and finds nature beautiful in all seasons not excluding the hot summer and cold winter.

He says that the earth is always singing. When the birds stop singing in the hot summer finding a cool place, we find the grasshopper singing and flying from the hedge. He sings tirelessly and when tired, rests beneath some weed.

When the birds are silent in very cold the earth never stops and expresses its pleasure through different beings like the cricket. It sings beautiful songs from the stones. It seems to be increasing in warmth every moment and a half-asleep human being feels it to be a grasshopper’s song coming from grassy hills.

Short Question Answers

1. What is the theme of the poem?

Ans:- The theme of the poem is that nature is always happy. Nature is never sad. It is always singing through the medium like grasshopper and cricket since the grasshopper sings in summer and cricket in cold winter.

2. When does a grasshopper sing?

Ans:- A grasshopper sings on a hot summer day. When the birds hide in cool shades, the grasshopper runs from hedge to hedge creating a sound that is called nature’s poetry by the poet.

3. In what atmosphere, according to Keats, does one hear a cricket’s song?

Ans:- The cricket’s song is heard in winter. When it is very cold and quiet, the winter silence is broken by a shrill sound. This is cricket’s song.

On The Grasshopper and Cricket: Summary & Exercise