Dawlish Fair Poem by John Keats

Dawlish Fair

Rating: 2.9


Over the hill and over the dale,
And over the bourn to Dawlish--
Where gingerbread wives have a scanty sale
And gingerbread nuts are smallish.
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Rantipole Betty she ran down a hill
And kicked up her petticoats fairly;
Says I I'll be Jack if you will be Gill--
So she sat on the grass debonairly.

Here's somebody coming, here's somebody coming!
Says I 'tis the wind at a parley;
So without any fuss any hawing and humming
She lay on the grass debonairly.

Here's somebody here and here's somebody there!
Says I hold your tongue you young Gipsey;
So she held her tongue and lay plump and fair
And dead as a Venus tipsy.

O who wouldn't hie to Dawlish fair,
O who wouldn't stop in a Meadow,
O who would not rumple the daisies there
And make the wild fern for a bed do!

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Subhas Chandra Chakra 28 September 2017

So without any fuss any hawing and humming She lay on the grass debonairly. A debonair life, well described.

0 1 Reply
* Sunprincess * 15 March 2014

O who wouldn't hie to Dawlish fair, O who wouldn't stop in a Meadow, O who would not rumple the daisies there And make the wild fern for a bed do!

2 1 Reply
Ian Fraser 15 July 2010

It may come as a surprise to those who know Keat's poetry mainly from the great Odes and Sonnets that he was also capable of writing in this extremely rustic manner. It's a mark of a great writer that he is capable of not taking himself too seriously and is even capable on occasion of self parody.

7 2 Reply
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John Keats

John Keats

London, England
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