Poetry Analysis one approach to John Keats When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be (1818)
first reading: experience (pre-analytical) When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
first reading: experience (pre-analytical) And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10 Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
second reading: comprehend glean: gather (leftover grain or other produce) after a harvest (conceptual) charactery: the expression of thought by symbols or characters teeming: to be full of or swarming with something garner: a storehouse; a granary When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
second reading: comprehend (conceptual) high: involving an extraordinary, extreme state chance: probability; destiny When I behold, upon the night s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
second reading: comprehend (conceptual) relish: pleasurable appreciation unreflecting: instinctual; not involving reflection faery: imaginary; mythical (does not necessarily concern actual fairies) And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10 Never have relish in the faery power of unreflecting love then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
third reading: visualize (imaginative) When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
third reading: visualize (imaginative) Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
third reading: visualize (imaginative) When I behold, upon the night s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
third reading: visualize (imaginative) And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
third reading: visualize (imaginative) And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10
third reading: visualize (imaginative) Never have relish in the faery power of unreflecting love [...]
third reading: visualize (imaginative) [...] then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
fourth reading: question (critical) meter & rhyme: iambic (unaccented, accented); pentameter (10 syllables, or 5 metrical feet, per line); English sonnet (14 lines, rhyming ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG) Does the use or rhythm & rhyme gel w/ the poem s theme? When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
fourth reading: question (critical) When I have fears that I may cease to be (l.1) Is John Keats afraid of dying young? [He is: by this point he knows he has the same disease, tuberculosis, that killed his mother and brother.] When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
fourth reading: question (critical) When I behold, upon the night s starred face (l.5) Why does Keats personify night here? Is he likening it s appearance to the face of a woman, or merely suggesting its beauty provides an appropriate background for romance? When I behold, upon the night s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
fourth reading: question (critical) And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance (ll.7-8) Why invoke chance (l.8)? Does Keats believe that some greater power helps him craft his poetry, or is he indirectly suggesting that Chance/Fate could abruptly remove his ability to create? When I behold, upon the night s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
fourth reading: question (critical) fair creature of an hour [...] (l.9) Why does JK refer to his love as the fair creature of an hour? Was he a player who hopped around, did he feel his love was fair only under certain lighting at a particular time of day, or does he feel he has only a tenuous hold on his lover s affections? [He was in love w/ Fanny Brawne, but feared losing her when he grew ill.] And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10 Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love [...]
fifth reading: reflect (personal) Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain (ll.3-4); Do I agree that poetry, or Art in general, is as vital to life as food? [I do, actually thus my profession.] When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
fifth reading: reflect (personal) Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love [...] (ll.11-12) I am personally suspicious of the power of unreflecting love, committed as I am to intentionally pursuing the love of my life. And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10 Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love [...]
fifth reading: reflect (personal) [...] I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink (ll.13-14) I can sympathize with the idea that, in the face of one s inevitable mortality, both relationships and accomplishments can seem inconsequential [...] then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.