Thoughts and Feelings ‘on the Grasshopper and the Cricket’

What are your thoughts and feelings about the poem “On The Grasshopper and The Cricket”? In the poem ‘On The Grasshopper and The Cricket’ by John Keats, the poet seems at a first glance to just to be describing a grasshopper and a cricket and how they inhabit a garden and the kitchen of a home respectively. However, once we understand the poem, it is not so straightforward. In the second to the sixth lines of the poem, it shows how carefree the life of a grasshopper is in the “summer luxury” as opposed to the cricket in the “lone winter”.
As it is mentioned that the grasshopper hops ‘from hedge to hedge about a new-mown mead’, we know that it is probably in a garden where it does not have to worry. It also gives us a young and lively feel to the poem because it shows that all the grasshopper does the entire day is play among the hedges and live a luxurious life. In the sixth and seventh lines, it is shown that the grasshopper is never bored because in this case, the grasshopper himself is capable of having his “delights” and “fun” with minimal effort and is able to rest if it feels tired beneath some “pleasant weed”.
It’s so hot that the usually chirpy and active birds have taken shelter amongst the shady trees and the whole countryside seems to be quiet, but just then one can hear the ever active grasshopper chirping away merrily in the hedges. We also know that there are birds in the garden as said in the second line “when birds are faint with hot sun” so it is believed that the grasshopper is never lonely because there are other animals around.

Similarly, when one is cozily sheltered in the comfort of his home in front of a warm stove from the cold, frosty winter and is beginning to feel lonely, an atmosphere of silence and loneliness prevails. However, the silence is shattered by the shrill chirpings of the cricket and this silence, which was forced by the cold, is gently calmed by the cricket’s song. But even then the poetry of earth continues without a break.
In a way, the grasshopper can be seen as selfish because when it plays among the hedges and freshly cut grass, it does not do anything else that implies that it is helping anyone other than itself. On the other hand, the cricket is seen to be somewhat of a good friend to those who are lonely on winter nights as it breaks the silence that was forced by the cold winter. The grasshopper could be compared to a young person who is usually carefree and does not worry much. In comparison, the cricket could represent someone in his or her old age who is there for people when they are in need or are lonely.