John Keats’ Poem, When I Have Fears That I May Cease To

But, we should first and foremost put this sonnet back in its context. We can easily presume that it is autobiographic, thus that Keats reveals us his own worries. In 1818, he is aware that he has short time left to live due to the fatal illness

As people near the time of their deaths, they begin to reflect upon the history and events of their own lives. Both John Keats’ “When I have Fears” and Henry Longfellow’s “Mezzo Cammin” reflect upon the speakers’ fears and thoughts of death. However, the conclusions between these two poems end quite differently. Although both reflect upon Death’s grasp, Keats’ displays an appreciation and subtle satisfaction with the wonders of life, while Longfellow morbidly mourns his past inactions and fears what events the future may bring.

One characteristic embedded in the minds of almost all humans is that of succumbing in pursuit of one’s aspirations, especially with the approach of death. The fear and enigmatic mystery of death at the brink of this shortcoming may cause one who is near death to re-evaluate life as a wasted opportunity or a broken path of dreams because of the inability to find any type of success. The sonnets “Mezzo Cammin” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and “When I have Fears” by John Keats examine the thought processes of two people who submit to the struggles of life in a depressed way. While communicating a very similar foundational message and mood in a different way through diction and structure, the speakers in “Mezzo Cammin” and “When I Have Fears” identify their despair through likewise differing literary elements which complement and bring out the message intended by these troubled individuals.

While both Keats and Longfellow often reflect on their own unfulfilled dreams and impending deaths, the poems however contrast on their own dispositions towards death and the future. Here, Keats expresses a fear of not having enough time to accomplish all that he believes he is capable of doing, but as he recognizes the enormity of the world and his own limitations of life, he realizes that his own mortal goals are meaningless in the long run of things. On the other hand, Longfellow speaks of a regret towards his inaction for allowing time to slip away from him in his past and is at a crossroads for the ominous future that looms ahead of him. Through the use of light and dark imagery, and personification, Keats and Longfellow similarly yet also differently, reflect on their own ideas for death and the futures that lay ahead of them.

In “When I have Fears”, John Keats discusses fear of premature death at great length. In Shakespearean sonnet form, Keats masterfully creates an atmosphere of doubt and anxiety surrounding a poet, presumably himself, that envelops the reader in this mindset. The poet contemplates aloud on issues of morality, fame, love, and how they all intertwine with one another. According to Lisa Dagorn, Keats reflected on the possibility that art, by uniting truth and beauty in a single sublime experience, might possess the power to overcome the world of pain and death, and would further redeem man’s doubts and uncertainties through spiritual transcendence, a concept he called “Negative Capability”. It is vital to remember that Keats was morbidly obsessed

Literature has a way of speaking to us. Its timelessness allows us to relate and connect with people from centuries before ours. John Keats’ When I Have Fears, discusses a topic that most people have thought about at least once in their lives; the fear of death.

In his sonnet "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles for the First Time," John Keats presents a series of various forms of conflict and tension. Most prominent is the poet's sense of his own fleeting existence juxtaposed with the eternity of the Greek marble sculptures and, perhaps, with the timelessness of art in general. However, there is another, more subtle tension between what is in existence, and what is not, an absence which paradoxically manifests as a form of existence in itself. The presence of this conflict within the sonnet shows Keats's self-coined Negative Capability, the ability to be in "uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason" (Keats 863). Furthermore, the Negative Capability

“What do you want to do before you die?” It is a question asked in many situations; college interviews, when you discover a terminal illness, or even during a discussion in your English class. Usually it takes people a minute to think up their list of aspirations, though some can spurt out their compilation in a matter of seconds. It all depends on how much prior thought you’ve put into the topic. In my case, I’d never deeply considered what I’d like to accomplish before death until I read the poem “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be” by John Keats. After reading this poem and understanding what Keats was saying, I took some time to compose a checklist for things to do while I have the time to do them. Before I die, I want to graduate

“When I Have Fears That I May Cease to be” was written John Keats in 1884. In his sonnet Keats displays fear of not being able to finish his literary work he has has set out to accomplish in his lifetime. To accompany him is a cloudy night reminding him of a lost lover that he fears he will never see again. He seems alone and seeks a simple life over love and fame.

After I read Keats’ poem, When I Have Fears That I May Cease to be, it really made me think about all the things that I want to accomplish in my life. Before we know it our time will be here, it’s just a matter of when. This poem really made me think about the way I am living my life right now and how I should not be taking it for granted. I need to change my lifestyle if I want to accomplish all of these things. These three things that I plan on doing in my lifetime before God decides that it is my time to

John Keats has many memorable and distinct poems. He is well known for his ability to write and adored by many. Ode on Indolence is a poem that can be relatable to its readers due to its idea of how indolence interferes with life’s opportunities, in particular the three mentioned in the poem, love, ambition and poesy. Keats refers to these three figures as “ghosts” (51) therefore insinuating that they once lived, but now they are mere figments of energy and air.

The twenty-four old romantic poet John Keats, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” written in the spring of 1819 was one of his last of six odes. That he ever wrote for he died of tuberculosis a year later. Although, his time as a poet was short he was an essential part of The Romantic period (1789-1832). His groundbreaking poetry created a paradigm shift in the way poetry was composed and comprehended. Indeed, the Romantic period provided a shift from reason to belief in the senses and intuition. “Keats’s poem is able to address some of the most common assumptions and valorizations in the study of Romantic poetry, such as the opposition between “organic culture” and the alienation of modernity”. (O’Rourke, 53) The irony of Keats’s Urn is he likens

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time,” Mark Twain. A man named John Keats would have very muched enjoyed this line by famous writer Mark Twain. Keats, was a young poet born in England, and his poems are now extremely famous long after his death. Keats became very sick with what modern doctors call tuberculosis, so young Keats went to Rome hoping he would stave off the disease with the Mediterranean air. In the end he succumb to his illness, however I believe he teaches an important lesson with his move. He also asks a very important question surrounding death, what does someone want to do before they die? Personally, before I die I would love to travel to exotic places, start a wonderful family, and put myself in a position to help people by being a part of politics.

John Keats addresses a very serious issue in his poem, “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be”, when expressing his feelings about what he wants to accomplish before he passes from this world and goes onto the next. He says, “When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,” (Keats 1-2). Here, Keats states that he is afraid that he will die without having left his mark on humankind through poetry. He knows he was put on the earth to be a poet, and wants to reach his full potential in teaching the world life lesson through his poetry. Like Keats, many personages of the world have certain things they want to accomplish before