# LXXI explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by John Keats.

## What happens

The speaker describes Crafticanto's elegant and tender prose style, comparing it to Boswell's, and playfully invokes a faery Pegasus to dance through the verse.

## Themes in this chapter

### Art and Poetry

The chapter celebrates poetic craft and the playful invocation of Pegasus as a muse for verse.

## Character check-ins

### Crafticant

Crafticanto's falsehood is mentioned, and his elegant prose style is praised.

## Key lines

> This, as a falsehood, Crafticanto treats; And as his style is of strange elegance, Gentle and tender, full of soft conceits, (Much like our Boswell’s,) we will take a glance At his sweet prose, and, if we can, make dance His woven periods into careless rhyme;

Crafticanto dismisses this as a lie, but his writing is so elegantly gentle and full of delicate fancies (reminiscent of Boswell) that we will look at his lovely prose and try to turn his flowing sentences into playful verse.

_The speaker acknowledges Crafticanto's denial but admires his prose style and aims to transform it into rhyme._

> O, little faery Pegasus! rear⁠—prance⁠— Trot round the quarto⁠—ordinary time! March, little Pegasus, with pawing hoof sublime!

Oh, tiny mythical horse! Rise up, prance, and trot around the book in regular rhythm! March on, little Pegasus, with your majestic hoofbeats!

_The speaker calls upon a miniature Pegasus to animate the verse with playful, rhythmic movement._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_14_se/chapters/lxxi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_14_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_14_se/chapters