On the Grasshopper and Cricket

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 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 the cold winter season also, the birds are silent. But the earth has its own way of expressing pleasure and joys. 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. It is thus a symbolic poem. Here, the grasshopper and the cricket are a symbol of the constant joyous mood of nature.

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.