In Bright Star, John Keats begins by giving a nod to Romanticism because he addressing the poem to a star. The way he used the adjective “stedfast” to describe the star made me think of the North Star. This is because people used to navigate the seas and to find their way home because of its fixed, unchanging position in the sky. I thought that Keats might have made this connection to show how people search for guidance in their own lives. I read the part about his life in the textbook and he lost both of his parents at a young age and lived a life of poverty. I thought that by talking to an unchanging star Keats was showing how people look for stability in life which he lacked in his own life. My favorite lines in the poem were “Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask/ Of snow upon the mountains and the moors” because it was such vivid imagery (7-8). I thought the images that Keats presented for the reader fit the poem’s theme of loneliness well. Although the star in the poem lives a very unchanging life, it is all alone in the sky. Moors and mountains are devoid of humans and the “mask of snow”, while very pretty looking, only makes me think of these two settings as even more barren and deserted. I also really liked the last two lines of “Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,/ And so live ever- or else swoon to death,” (13-14). While the last lines may be a little dramatic, I liked the contrast between life and death in having the two lines right next to each other. I thought this emphasized the finality and permanence of death to the reader.
I find it very interesting that you made a connection between Keats' childhood and the star that he wished to be. It would make sense that he would wish for more stability in his constantly changing life. When you brought up his parents' death, it made me wonder if he wrote the last couple of lines with his mother and father in mind. Even though these lines are meant to be romantic, they could be seen from his father's point of view. I researched to see if his parents died close to each other, and found out that his father died first, and although his mother remarried mostly because she was a distraught widow, the marriage was a failure because the new man was a money hunter and her health kept declining after the marriage and divorce. Either way, this poem could show Keats' thinking about lovers wanting to be eternally together, and could have a deeper meaning than I originally thought. It seems he never saw two people that could stay together happily, and die together happily, which connects to "And so live ever--or else swoon to death" (line 14). It turns out that Keats' witnessed a lot of family deaths early in life, so his deep, dramatic poetry makes even more sense to me. I also read more about his money struggles. It seems to all come together that Keats' really just wanted more stability in his life, and envied things that remained unchanged and alive, like the North Star.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that you brought up Keat's childhood and past, because I now see Keats looking up to the stars as at his parents, seeking guidance and comfort, when I re-read the poem. In Keats aspiring to be a star, I believe he wants to essentially be that comfort-and-security force that the stars have provided him throughout his life. If he aspires to be the North Star, then that is the most powerful start to be. It provides emotional and physical guidance, and hope, to almost everyone in the world at one point. moving beings become mesmerized with the unmoving, extremely bright object, perhaps moved emotionally by it. There seems to be a reliance on looking up at the sky in grounding an individual: there is no greater feeling then looking up to a blanket of stars, and feeling so small yet so..safe under them all. I think Keats craves to be one of these beautiful stationary objects to not only possess that power and influence but to form connections with other beings. In being a star, he represents an eternal hope and safety. In not having a particularly fortunate childhood, Keats is right to crave this companionship and inanimate-animate connection.
ReplyDeleteI do like the connection you made between this poem and Keats' past. I also felt that there were interesting religious elements in this poem - "the moving waters at their priestlike task of pure ablution round earth's human shores." Water is used in almost all religious ceremonies, from the Sunday routine of crossing yourself with holy water to baptism. Also I looked up the word "eremite" which is also spelled hermit, which is a religious solitary. This word also contributes to the solidarity that is felt while reading this poem. Keats talks of the star just watching all of us like a sleepless religious solitary. Then he goes onto talk about lonely landscapes like moors and snow covered mountains, which you have mentioned. They are quite barren and empty. I don't if anyone has read Wuthering Heights (one of my favorites) but moors are no place where anyone just hangs out unless of course you are the brooding Heathcliff. Something else that interested me was the fact that this whole poem is basically one sentence, split up by dashes and commas. I just found these elements quite interesting and I like your interpretation of the poem as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting way to interpret the poem—one of which I wouldn’t have considered before, so I appreciate how you took the extra step in researching Keat’s personal life. That being said, the explanation certainly makes sense in reference to the themes suggested in the poem. The context of the poem first suggests that the speaker wishes he were like the star because it represents stability and thus, a feeling of comfort. This comfort is one that the speaker finds in the presence of his lover.
ReplyDeleteGiven Keat’s past, the close (and comfort-driven) relationship mentioned in the poem may represent one similar to that of a mother and son (that of Keat’s and his mother) rather than a man and a woman.
You mentioned that Keat’s lost his mother at a young age. It may be inferred that Keat’s missed his mother’s close embrace seeing as she was taken from him. With this, Keat’s lost a sense of comfort. He lost a sense of stability that he surely wished to seize later on. Similar to the speaker of the poem, he too was looking for a sense of stability (that may have been stripped from him) and was longing to do this in the arms of someone who made him feel safe (perhaps trying to find the comfort that was taken from him in the first place).