A POEM BY JAMES HENRY LEIGH
May will part from Spenser never;
May’s in Milton, May’s in Prior,
May’s in Chaucer, Thomson, Dyer;
May’s in all the Italian books:—
She has old and modern nooks,
Where she sleeps with nymphs and elves,
In happy places they call shelves,
And will rise and dress your rooms
With a drapery thick with blooms.
Come, ye rains, then if ye will,
May’s at home, and with me still;
But come rather, thou, good weather,
And find us in the fields together.
Leigh Hunt (1784–1859) was one of the prominent writers of the Romantic period in England in the early 1800s, along with John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelly, and many others. He wrote not only poems, but also essays, plays, literary criticism, and political commentary. His verse is not as philosophical as Keats’ or Shelley’s, and so he is not as popular with academic critics today — but in a sense that makes some of his poems more accessible, especially for younger readers.
“May and the Poets” is a clever reminder that spring can be found at any time of year in the works of the great poets — and Hunt recites his favorites for us: Edmund Spenser, John Milton, Matthew Prior, Geoffrey Chaucer, James Thomson, and George Dyer. May hides in our bookshelves, and even when it rains, May still can be found between the pages. Nevertheless, fair weather is always the best, so that we — you and me — can go into the May fields together.
