John Keats
[1] When I have fears that I may cease to be
[2] Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
[3] Before high piled books, in charact’ry,
[4] Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
[5] When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,
[6] Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
[7] And think that I may never live to trace
[8] Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
[9] And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
[10] That I shall never look upon thee more,
[11] Never have relish in the fairy power
[12] Of unreflecting love—then on the shore
[13] Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
[14] Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
This poem could either be interpreted as a writer losing his muse that shapes him or as a man who’s heartbroken. At the start of the poem we know that the speaker is despondent. In lines 1 to 4 he miserably begins with explaining his struggle to express what’s in his head into words (i.e. “charact’ry”). It could mean that he’s afraid he’ll die before he’ll be the writer he wishes himself to be or that he’s afraid that he’ll die before he can ever say anything, ever say what he truly feels.
He’s daydreaming, looking up at the stars and thinking of the possibility of being with the someone his loves under that night sky rather than being in the state of mind he’s presently in. Except that tiny moment of happiness drifts away from him as he states in line 7 and 8:
Perhaps it’s suggesting that he may never be able to relive those magical moments he shared with his lost love. Those moments are gone in the darkness. The following lines, 11 and 12, “Fairy power of unreflecting love,” could be interpreted as him still or was in love with someone and they didn’t love him in return. As if he’s under some sort of spell that has brought to this dismal state.
What lines that partially hint that he’s in heartache are lines 9 and 10 where he goes on to say, “when I feel, fair creature of an hour, that I shall never look upon thee more.” He could be saying directly to his “creature of an hour,” or his present love, that he’s saddened that he’ll never see her again. This explains that he’s hurt because of whatever happened between him and his love he’ll never get see her again and feel that love– and knowing that is painful.
Lines 12 to 14 is a kind of sweet surrender. He’s providing the reader with a visualization:He’s given up. It’s all meaningless and he feels alone in this horrible feeling he’s under. Everything has fallen apart and it’s all nothing in the end. He’s in obvious torment, sinking so low in his depression and looking deep inside himself, realizing that he is the one on the brink and ready to just quit everything. His thought is “what’s the point or going on if I’ll never feel love or be in love again?” After acknowledging this he knows there’s nothing more he can do about it.
Gabriela, you make some valid connections with this poem. Remembering back to discussions we had in class, Keats died when he was 25 years young, so writing this poem makes perfect sense. There is only one part of your blog which I would pose another thought to. Since Keats feared that he might die before fullfilling his highest potential as a poet, lines 10 and 11 give me a different thought than you had. He may "never look upon thee more, never have relish in the faery power". My first instinct to this was that he will never experience the magic of writing a poem again, which is his true love. This realization led to his feeling alone and questioning if he will ever be needed in the world of poetry again.
ReplyDeleteThe last lines of this poem are always so ambiguous to me. Do they sink because of his despair, or because he has somehow let go of his obsession with fame and love and thus reached some kind of bittersweet acceptance?
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