During his last years, Keats ponders about what it would mean to die. He translates this into fears of what he hasn’t yet accomplished and would like to have time to do. This aspect of time is emphasised with the use of the word “when” at the start of the first three quatrains which is also used in Shakespearean Sonnets. The heading, “When I have fears that I may cease to be” demonstrates Keats’ belief, or rather, lack of belief in the idea of an afterlife. In the first quatrain of the poem Keats describes his fertile imagination, yearning to have “glean’d my teeming brain” before it is too late, the image of abundance is instilled with the words “high- piled” and “rich.” The paradox of a field of grain is used to depict Keats’ brain being ‘harvested’ of the knowledge into poems of his own creation. In this stanza, Keats reveals his want for fame through his works and his fears of being unable to fulfil this in his time.
In the second stanza Keats demonstrates his use of nature in poetry. He describes the “night’s starr’d face” which could refer to Keats contemplating the beauty...
Keats "Bright Star" and Frost's "Choose Something Like a Star" although similar in their address to a star differ in form, tone and theme. The latter contains an illusion to the former that brings Keats' themes into the poem. In order to compare these poems it is necessary to look carefully at their themes and constructions. "Bright Star" is a sonnet in traditional iambic pentameter. Its tone is elegiac as it celebrates the woman's beauty and his love for her in his plea for steadfastness. The poem opens with an apostrophe to the star which calls our attention to his plea. The verbs "would" and "were" indicate his wish to be like the star whom he addresses as "thou." The star is "hung" in the night, a pleasant image, and he uses a simile to compare it with Eremite, a hermit, who presumably sat apart from the world watching. The eyelids of this star (the star is given anthropomorphic qualities) are eternally apart -- always watching, "patiently" and "sleeplessly." Keats then enumerates what this star watches. It watches water -- which is also steadfast as indicated by the comparison "priest-like." The waters that surround the land Keats says are performing ablutions or cleansings and blessings on the land. The star also gazes upon the snow. He uses the metaphor of snow as a "mask" (more personification) as it hides the mountains and moors. The "m" alliteration emphasizes the falling of the snow. The repetition of "of" underlines the parallel structure and idea of the two scenes the star regards. The rhythm of this 2nd quatrain is slow and peaceful like the scene. Then Keats puts a "No -- " w...
Keats’ poetry explores many issues and themes, accompanied by language and technique that clearly demonstrates the romantic era. His poems ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ and ‘Bright Star’ examine themes such as mortality and idealism of love. Mortality were common themes that were presented in these poems as Keats’ has used his imagination in order to touch each of the five senses. He also explores the idea that the nightingale’s song allows Keats to travel in a world of beauty. Keats draws from mythology and christianity to further develop these ideas. Keats’ wrote ‘Ode To A Nightingale’ as an immortal bird’s song that enabled him to escape reality and live only to admire the beauty of nature around him. ‘Bright Star’ also discusses the immortal as Keats shows a sense of yearning to be like a star in it’s steadfast abilities. The visual representation reveal these ideas as each image reflects Keats’ obsession with nature and how through this mindset he was able
After a four week survey of a multitude of children’s book authors and illustrators, and learning to analyze their works and the methods used to make them effective literary pieces for children, it is certainly appropriate to apply these new skills to evaluate a single author’s works. Specifically, this paper focuses on the life and works of Ezra Jack Keats, a writer and illustrator of books for children who single handedly expanded the point of view of the genre to include the experiences of multicultural children with his Caldecott Award winning book “Snowy Day.” The creation of Peter as a character is ground breaking in and of itself, but after reading the text the reader is driven to wonder why “Peter” was created. Was he a vehicle for political commentary as some might suggest or was he simply another “childhood” that had; until that time, been ignored? If so, what inspired him to move in this direction?
Time is endlessly flowing by and its unwanted yet pending arrival of death is noted in the two poems “When I Have Fears,” by John Keats and “Mezzo Cammin,” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Keats speaks with no energy; only an elegiac tone of euphoric sounds wondering if his life ends early with his never attained fame. He mentions never finding a “fair creature” (9) of his own, only experiencing unrequited love and feeling a deep loss of youth’s passion. Though melancholy, “Mezzo Cammin,” takes a more conversational tone as Longfellow faces what is commonly known as a midlife crisis. The two poems progressions contrast as Keats blames his sorrow for his lack of expression while Longfellow looks at life’s failures as passions never pursued. In spite of this contrast, both finish with similar references to death. The comparable rhyme and rhythm of both poems shows how both men safely followed a practiced path, never straying for any spontaneous chances. The ending tones evoking death ultimately reveal their indications towards it quickly advancing before accomplish...
then what is the true nature verse and why is it a ?toil? for the poet? Also, if Yeats cannot use poetry to influence the world around him, then what is his role as a poet? As ?
Throughout Keats’s work, there are clear connections between the effect of the senses on emotion. Keats tends to apply synesthetic to his analogies with the interactions with man and the world to create different views and understandings. By doing this, Keats can arouse different emotions to the work by which he intends for the reader to determine on their own, based on how they perceive it. This is most notable in Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale, for example, “Tasting of Flora, and Country Green” (827). Keats accentuates emotion also through his relationship with poetry, and death.
Keats was inspired by spring to create his previous odes; this is because they were written in the spring of 1819. Spring is usually associated with inspiring music, because it represents a time of optimism and rebirth. “The speaker’s mentioning of the spring in the beginning of the third in Keats’s poem signals that spring is associated with the rebirth of the sun and thus with youth, whereas autumn with sunset and old age.”(Karadas 104) Thus we see the images in the third stanza are all associated with the dark. This achieved by he image of the “barred clouds” blooming and “the soft –dying day” (line 25). However, by focusing primarily on autumn and then implementing the idea of spring in the last stanza; Keats cre...
middle of paper ... ... He forgets about the impossible, and being immortal and being alone, but rather embraces the temporary and exhilarating. Keats presents his feelings on how he no longer wishes for impossible goals, and how it is much more preferable to enjoy life as much as possible. It is of no use longing for things we cannot have, and so we must learn to live with the myriad of things we already have, of which one in particular appeals to Keats: the warmth of human companionship and the passion of love.
death were all part of a cycle that was necessary for new life to be
Arguably one of John Keats’ most famous poems, “Ode to a nightingale” in and of itself is an allegory on the frail, conflicting aspects of life while also standing as a commentary on the want to escape life’s problems and the unavoidability of death. Keats’ poem utilizes a heavy amount of symbolism, simile and allusion to idealize nature as a perfect, almost mystical, world that holds no problems while using imagery taken from nature, combined with alliteration and assonance, to idealize the dream of escape from the problems life often presents; more specifically, aging and our inevitable deaths by allowing the reader to feel as if they are experiencing the speaker’s experience listening to the nightingale.
In order to experience true sorrow one must feel true joy to see the beauty of melancholy. However, Keats’s poem is not all dark imagery, for interwoven into this poem is an emerging possibility of resurrection and the chance at a new life. The speaker in this poem starts by strongly advising against the actions and as the poem continues urges a person to take different actions. In this poem, the speaker tells of how to embrace life by needing the experience of melancholy to appreciate the true joy and beauty of
This is why “our best men” die the soonest, as they get to enjoy death sooner. Donne thinks of death as just a short period of nothingness, after which comes the eternal life. If death itself was to die, any person would not ever die. Moreover, death is not as mighty or powerful as it thinks it is. On the contrary, Keats expresses a complete fear of death, in “When I have Fears that I may Cease to Be”. Unlike Donne’s unabashedly tone towards death, Keats portrays a salient fear of death. Keats fears the idea of death taking away his chance to achieve his aspirations. He fears that he will not be able to express his ideas, or write volumes of literary work. Also, he has a fear of not having enough time to be able to find idealistic and pure love. Death had brought a great deal of anxiety, which causes him to do nothing but think about death. This creates a vicious cycle of fear, in which Keats is left with an ever-increasing fear of death. Unfortunately, Keats does not see the gracious afterlife that Donne does. Keats’ attention is narrowed to his present life. He wants to become famous now, so he can enjoy his fame. He compares his poetry career to nature to over dramatize his fear of death. Keats believes his career will fall into the
In the first place, the development of this poem is my first clue to identifying reality in contrast with imagination as the main idea. Keats starts his piece on the subject of reality while talking about how miserable he feels. Then, he wanders off into
In the first stanza, the poet seems to be offering a conventional romanticized view of Nature:
The poem is in essence, an ode to love itself; Keats is completely enamored with a goddess of love but Keats does not want Psyche as his lover, he merely wants her to enter his being and empower him with love. This turns every praise of Psyche into a praise of love itself. Keats wants to “let warm love into his mind.