Similarities Between Keats And Longfellow

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.

Both men feel that time is escaping them. While keats is fearful that time is moving too quickly for him to accomplish anything, Longfellow fears he has wasted his time: “half of life is gone”. The difference is that Keats is hopeful that he has the chance to accomplish something. Keats begins each line with a dependent clause, leaving room for possibility, possibility that his life can become anything if he wills it. He also includes metaphors to represent the possibility of his success in his writing with “high-piled books”. This presence of hope is what differentiates Keats from Longfellow. In the middle of the of “When I Have Fears”, Keats has a change in tone which also illustrates his hopefulness. He admires the mystery and power of love with its “shadows” and “magic hand of chance”. His enchantment of the concept reiterates his youthfulness and ignorance to life. While Keats longs for love, Longfellow has “sorrow” from “care that almost killed” him. Longfellow was able to experience love in his past yet was unhappy with its outcome. Therefore, Keats is in desperation for love as a symbol of fulfillment, and Longfellow regrets that love has taken away his time ergo not having achieved his

Although the basic mood and intended idea of these poems may seem to be the same, the two ways in which these two messages are portrayed are different from one another through diction and imagery. Keats’ poem is much more romantic and enchanting, using eloquent symbols containing imagery such as when he says, “When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face, /Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,”(5-6). This complex symbol of imagery, complemented by the use of the word “love” twice in the poem, contribute to the poem being characterized as more romantic. On the other hand,”Mezzo

These poems are included because they had a strong feeling of mortality in them and summarize the concept of what Keats believed it to be. They were not the only two other topic that dealt with mortality but seemed to have a strong presence of it in them.

The poems share commonalities in their beginnings illuminating both Keats and Longfellow’s resent over death. In Keats’s poem, his first line illuminates the whole focus of fear of death when he states, “I may cease to be.” Keats’s quote parallels Longfellow’s first line, “half of my life is gone.” Keats then uses “before” as a metaphorical anaphora to emphasize the idea that he will die before he accomplishes all that he

Beauty and evil cannot come much closer than when being in the same quote, and much of Keats’s work is pockmarked with references to these two seemingly unrelated conditions, and I feel is notable, if not key, to much of Keats’s work. In a way it could be said to symbolise Keats’s “bitter-sweet melancholy”; the idea which all the Romantics referenced, and which Keats literally lived, with the fact that he had just met the love of his life, and was just coming to prominence, but at the same time would soon be claimed by tuberculosis. The beauty of his work,

Keats covered many topics in the poems he wrote during his short life but the theme of fantasy being a better alternative to reality was prominent throughout many of his works. To Keats the idea that, “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/ Are sweeter” (Urn 11-12) play a major role in his poetry, demonstrating that for him the idea of what is yet to come is far better than the actual reality of the situation. Through the narratives and stories he tells in his poems, “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “Ode to a Nightingale,” and “The Eve of St. Agnes,” it is made evident that Keats would rather live in the fantasy realm of his own mind than in reality.

The theme mortality was expressed in similar manners but had opposite meanings in “When I have fears that I may cease to be” by John Keats and “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking” by Walt Whitman. Bits and pieces of nature were used to personify mortality. Additional historical context showed that the poems are reflections of their respective authors’ view on mortality. The interpreted meanings of the theme from the poems were greatly different. Despite being written four decades apart, similarities between the poems were rampant.

It’s scary, but it is an inevitable part of life that we all must deal with. This poem is relatable to some if not most people in that it is showing death as something to fear. A common fear is dying before we can achieve our full potential and Keats finds a way to put it into words. He takes his own fears of not having enough time and puts them into this poem.

suffering made evident in stanza three. He seeks to completely enter into the ecstasy of the nightingale 's song so he becomes nothing more than an instrument recording the tiniest of physical sensation. For example, in stanza five, Keats describes the beauty of a place in the most minute detail. Since he is unable to actually "see" this place, he is using the sheer force of his imagination. In this particular stanza, the use of imagery is indeed present. The soft sounds and descriptions of flowers yield a very enchanting and beautiful atmosphere. Where Keats says, "Now more than ever seems it rich to die, / To cease upon the midnight with no pain, / While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad / In such an ecstasy!" (lines 55-58), is an indication of how he believes it would be marvelous for his life to end in such a state of blissful heaven. However, the irony of this is that, in Keats ' case, death would mean the end of the nightingale 's song. He realizes this when he says, "Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain - / to thy high requiem become a sod." (lines 59-60). This piece is an indication of Keats ' enchantment with the nightingale and its song.

In John Keats’s “When I Have My fears” and Henry Longfellow’s “Mezzo Cammin”, the poets share their outlook on death. Both writers filled themselves with the concern of dying before they created a fulfilling life. Although Keats and Longfellow both portrayed their similar theme using parallel structures and language, the two works differ in the two poets’ rhyme schemes and tones.

In almost every other stanza, he symbolizes what the world is to him, “Here, where men sit and hear each other groans / Where palsy shakes a few, sad, last gray hairs / Where youth grows pale, and specter-thin, and dies” (24-26). Keats personifies death and beauty is this poem. He says that “Beauty cannot keep her lustrous eyes” (29), meaning that beauty does not last forever and that “I have been half in love with easeful Death” (52), meaning that it is easy to think about death, especially since it is usually on his mind.

On October 31, 1795 an English Romantic lyric was brought forth in this world. He was born in London, England. Keats was the oldest of four children. His mother was Frances Keats. His father was Thomas Keats. Keats lost his parents at age eight. Keats father, whom was a stable keeper, was killed after being trampled by horse. Keats father death left a major impact on him. He then begins to understanding for society that it’s both a suffering and a loss, Keats father’s dearth greatly disrupted the family’s financial security. His mother seemed to be so depressed and managed to make misstep and mistakes after her husband’s death. She then quickly remarried and just as quickly lost a good amount of their family’s worth. Frances second marriage failed so she left her family and children behind in the care of her mother. She lately returned to her children in life but her life was in tatters. In 1810 she died of tuberculosis

This chapter is a continuation of the exploration of sympathy in Keats: the previous chapter has analyzed the language of Keatsean sympathy in his letters, and from this chapter onwards the critical examination is going to be with reference to his longer poems (Thesis statement of the chapter). This chapter, by critically investigating the evocation of Keatsean sympathy in Endymion, makes the point that Keats modifies his Romantic idolization of beauty with empiricism--an immediate selfless but sympathetic experience of the real.

This chapter is a continuation of the exploration of sympathy in Keats: the previous chapter has analyzed the language of Keatsean sympathy in his letters, and from this chapter onwards the critical examination is going to be with reference to his longer poems (Thesis statement of the chapter). This chapter, by critically investigating the evocation of Keatsean sympathy in Endymion, makes the point that Keats modifies his Romantic idolization of beauty with empiricism--an immediate selfless but sympathetic experience of the real.