Keat’s sonnet ‘When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be’ represents a reflection on life and death. The leading theme is fear, as he is afraid that he will not be able to complete all the tasks that he has set for himself. Indeed, he aches to leave a mark in the world with his writing. The sonnet begins with the word “When,” implying that this fear of death is an emotion that he has experienced and reflected on several times. The first two quatrains establish his fear of never being able to develop his ideas and put them onto paper for the world to see. He believes his thoughts can still evolve through learning: “my teeming brain” (l.2), which he also exposes through the imagery of harvest with an alliteration: “glean’d”, “garners” and “full ripened grain.” In fact, “I may never live to trace / Their shadows” (l.7-8) suggests that Keat is perplexed by the thought that he may never be able to fully explore the meaning of something. He then reveals his fear of losing his beloved: “I shall never look upon thee more” (l.10). The closure of the sonnet is somewhat hopeless and depressing: “[I] think/ Till Love and Fame to the nothingness do sink” (l.13-14). By using capitals, he shows what great importance love and fame are for him; without them, everything is worthless. Recognition by the public was something that was important to the author. In a way, this may be what motivated him to write. Thus, death is something that will abruptly end everything: his thoughts, his love and his fame. Although he became even more famous later on, it appears as though it has no true value for him since he is not there to experience it. The use of enjambments emphasizes his continuous distress, which will follow him until death finally comes. This apprehension of death demonstrates how he is willing to accept that death will come, as it is inevitable. Nonetheless, it seems like Keat will not accept the fact that he may die with parts of his life remaining incomplete. What can be perceived as ironic, is that John Keat died four years after writing this sonnet. As he contemplates death, instead of regretting the past, he regrets the future.
I agree with you, I definitely think that Keats is here exploring his fear of expiring too soon, and then never being able to fully “glean” his “teeming brain” and the world around him of its beauty and poetic potential. But I disagree with you when you say that “love and fame” are important to Keats, because I think that in fact the final verses of the sonnet reveal that because of all his thinking, he finds himself “on the shore / Of the wide world” and “think[s] till love and fame to nothingness do sink.” Love and fame clearly have no significance for Keats by the end of the sonnet, because, like everything else around him, they disappear and sink to “nothingness,” for he is fixated on the possible loss of other things: “high-piled books,” “the night’s starr’d face,” “huge cloudy symbols of a high romance.” Love also seems empty, even though Keats is disappointed that he may never again “relish in the faery power” of his love—which connotes witchcraft and malevolent power, a sort of enchantment that is false, as the love is “unreflecting,” which means that Keats’ love is unrequited, and that it is a sort of one-way mirror into which he stares and stares, but from which he receives nothing in return. Keats focuses less on these broad themes, love and fame, but rather on the details in the world that he will miss. His fixation on them eventually paralyzes him in a way, because by the end of the sonnet he is left alone to ponder and all other things around him completely lose their significance and become unimportant.
ReplyDeleteYet another great artist dying too young to have achieved not even half of what he could have... But I think this makes this poem so much more interesting knowing that. A lot of romantic artists died really young, and referred to as "the young dead". Was he aware he could die so easily? we cannot be sure, but he was indeed very aware of his mortality. As a result, like Laura said, he wanted to quickly make the most of life, wanting to do too much. It may seem ridiculous to talk about death at 23-4 but he turned out to have rights to worry.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, I also think his statement about love and fame shows the importance he attaches to these ideas. Though, I disagree with Laura on the fact that he would be trying to say that life isn't worth it without love and fame. I would be more inclined to think that he just realizes that, as ideals, they cannot be attained and despairs while looking at them. He realizes that within a lifetime, leaving a trace is almost impossible. Also ironic, as we are studying his poems 200 years later
Like I said in class today, I don't agree with him, and I prefer to have a "Carpe diem" metaphysical thinking.