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To A Friend, On Robin Hood

The trees in Sherwood forest are old and good,--
   The grass beneath them now is dimly green;
   Are they deserted all? Is no young mien
With loose-slung bugle met within the wood:
No arrow found,--foil'd of its antler'd food,--
   Struck in the oak's rude side? is there nought seen,
   To mark the revelries which there have been,--
In the sweet days of merry Robin Hood?

Go there, with Summer, and with evening,--go
   In the soft shadows like some wandering man,--
And thou shalt far amid the forest know
   The archer men in green, with belt and bow,
   Feasting on phesant, river-fowl, and swan,
With Robin at their head, and Marian.
Additional Information:
"To A Friend, On Robin Hood" was written, along with "To the Same," in 1818 and sent by Reynolds to his friend John Keats.  Keats replied with "Robin Hood: To A Friend" and Reynolds replied to that poem with an additional sonnet, "To E--, With The Foregoing Sonnets."