Recitations
“She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron
“The World Is Too Much With Us” by William Wordsworth
“Bright Star” by John Keats
“Which I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be” by John Keats
Explicitation
Explication of “Bright Star” by John Keats
John Keats’ poem titled “Bright Star” is about the speaker’s desire to be like the star (“Bright Star”), unmoving and unchanging for all of eternity, so the speaker is able to lay with the love of his life for all of eternity. Keats’ poem is also known as the “Last Sonnet” and is believed to be about his fiancé, Fanny Brawne. The poem was written between 1818 and 1819, and later revised in 1820.
Keats starts the poem with, “Bright Star, would I as steadfast as thou art-” He begins by addressing who he is talking to, in this case not a person, but a star. The phrase “would I as steadfast as thou art” means the same as “I wish I were as steadfast as you”, which shows his longing and desire to be steadfast as the star. It is believed he is talking to the North Star. The North Star is the only star to remain motionless in the sky, and why it is used for navigation by travelers. Keats’ first line in the poem shows us he wants to be like the star, but in the second line, “Not in lone splendor hung aloft in the night,” makes us believe that he does not want to be like the star. He mentions qualities of the star and how the star is lonely and isolated from the world, which are qualities he does not want. Line 3, “And watching, with eternal lids apart,” continues to reject the qualities and steadfastness of the star. The star keeps its eyelids open and watches for eternity, which again, is another quality he does not want. Keats introduces religion in Line 4, “Nature’s patient, sleepless”, with the word “Eremite” and continues to use religion a few more times throughout the rest of the poem. The word “eremite” translates to “hermit”. The first hermits were people who moved to the desert to be closer to God. By calling the star an Eremite in line 4, he continues to emphasize the aloneness of the star. Hermits also do not move, which makes a connection to the North Star, as it does not move either. He admires the steadfastness of the star, but does not wish to poses the qualities of the star.
Keats continues to use strong natural imagery, personification, and religion in line 5, “The moving waters at their preistlike task”, and in line 6 with the word “ablution”, which means religious washing or cleansing that Keats ties to the sea. All the lines so far show Keats’ great admiration for the sky, the Earth, and nature. Keats starts the next lines with even more admiration for nature, this time for the mountains and moors and the snow that falls upon the peaks. In Stanza three (lines 9-13), “No- yet still steadfast, still unchangeable, Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast, To feel for ever its soft swell and fall, Awake for ever in a sweet unrest, Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath”, Keats once again emphasizes the star’s steadfast quality and the eternal, unchanging element it possesses, but he still does not want to be the star. He wants to be steadfast as the star in the sense of laying on his beloveds chest, unmoving and unchanging, for the rest of eternity. He does not want to fall asleep on his love’s breast, but instead, remain there awake for eternity (line 12), just as the star keeps its eyelids open for eternity. Keats ends the poem with the line, “And so live ever – or else swoon to death”. If he cannot lay awake on his lover’s chest for the rest of eternity, he would rather die; either love or die.
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