Jeez this poem really made me sad after reading it. The idea of death scares the crap out of all of us, some more than others. I speak for myself when saying I hate thinking about dying because it is obviously one of my biggest fears. We live like nothing can touch us, but not Keats. The poem’s opening lines are “My spirit is too weak- mortality” suggesting that he is weak and death is on his mind. After reading the poem focusing so much on death I did a little research. John Keats was diagnosed with terminal tuberculosis and dreamed of living long enough to achieve his poetic dream of becoming as great as Shakespeare. After learning this it broke my heart and felt bad for the guy. This whole poem is Keats pondering his mortality and making an effort to stay alive. This was suggested in the following lines “Weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep”. UNWILLING SLEEP, yup that sounds scary to me. Then Keats takes us on this imagination ride. For instance, the lines “Like a sick eagle looking at the sky” definitely gives us this image of him being sick pondering at the sky. However, there might be this further meaning...I might be wrong eek… that Keats only way to be immortalized is through art or poetry. I think this because this guy is just struggling to do all such great things in the time he has left. After reading the poem a second time I think that it may be a message for us to achieve what we dream of with the time we have left. I know it sounds cheesey and maybe I’m just reading this poem totally wrong (wouldn’t be the first time), but I think Keats is suggesting to live every day like it’s our last or in other words YOLO.
(Posted for Erica)
I definitely see where you're coming from. The message of live each day like your last is super prominent in this poem, and since--as you say--Keats was dying, I suppose that's what he was doing or attempting to do. I feel like there is a mix between Keats wanting to be able to see EVERYTHING in the time he had left, desiring to travel the globe and see it all "round Earth's human shores" and him wanting to freeze each moment so he can remember it. I get this part from him wanting to lay with the woman he loves forever, just watching her until he dies. That's so freakin sad. But still, I feel as though Keats wanted to see more of the world, but he also believes that the woman he love IS his world.
ReplyDeleteI totally see what you are saying. Although the poem does not every fully identify the speaker as Keats the piece does have messages that he would be trying to portray during that point in his life. We learn certain things about the speaker throughout the whole piece, starting with him wanting to be someone else—the Bright star, which in this context takes the shape of a person. He wants to last for eternity like the star and become a constant in life, but then goes on to explain he doesn’t want to be isolated and alone. For this reason, what you were saying fits perfectly, Keats or the speaker wishes for human contact and to live with the woman he loves forever, and if he must die than he desires a painless death. He wishes to live and die happy.
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