Poetry Analysisone approach to

John Keats’ “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be” (1818)

first reading: experience (pre-analytical)

When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;

first reading: experience (pre-analytical)

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love—then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

second reading: comprehend (conceptual)

teeming: to be full of or swarming with

something

When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;

glean: gather (leftover grain

or other produce) after a

harvest

disintegration; decay; death

garner: a storehouse; a

granary

charactery: the expression of

thought by symbols or characters

second reading: comprehend (conceptual)

high: involving an extraordinary, extreme

state

disintegration; decay; death

When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;

chance: probability; destiny

second reading: comprehend (conceptual)

faery: imaginary; mythical (does not necessarily

concern actual fairies)

disintegration; decay; death

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10Never have relish in the faery power of unreflecting love—then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink.

relish: pleasurable appreciation

unreflecting: instinctual; not involving reflection

When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,

disintegration; decay; death

third reading: visualize (imaginative)

Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;

disintegration; decay; death

third reading: visualize (imaginative)

disintegration; decay; death

When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

third reading: visualize (imaginative)

disintegration; decay; death

And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;

third reading: visualize (imaginative)

disintegration; decay; death

third reading: visualize (imaginative)

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10

disintegration; decay; death

third reading: visualize (imaginative)

Never have relish in the faery power of unreflecting love [. . .]

disintegration; decay; death

third reading: visualize (imaginative)

[. . .] then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink.

fourth reading: question (critical)

When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;

meter & rhyme: iambic (unaccented, accented); pentameter (10 syllables, or 5 metrical “feet,” per line); English sonnet

(14 lines, rhyming ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG)

Does the use or rhythm & rhyme gel w/ the poem’s theme?

fourth reading: question (critical)

When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;

“When I have fears that I may cease to be” (l.1)

Is John Keats afraid of dying young? [He is: by this point he knows he has the same disease,

tuberculosis, that killed his mother and brother.]

fourth reading: question (critical)

When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;

“When I behold, upon the night’s starred face” (l.5)

Why does Keats personify night here? Is he likening it’s appearance to the face of a woman, or merely

suggesting its beauty provides an appropriate background for romance?

fourth reading: question (critical)

When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 5 Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;

“And think that I may never live to traceTheir shadows with the magic hand of chance (ll.7-8)

Why invoke “chance” (l.8)? Does Keats believe that some greater power helps him craft his poetry, or is

he indirectly suggesting that Chance/Fate could abruptly remove his ability to create?

fourth reading: question (critical)

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love [. . .]

“fair creature of an hour [. . .]” (l.9)

Why does JK refer to his love as the “fair creature of an hour”? Was he a “player” who hopped around, did he feel his love was “fair” only under certain lighting at a particular time of day, or does he

feel he has only a tenuous hold on his lover’s affections? [He was in love w/ Fanny Brawne, but feared losing her when he grew ill.]

fifth reading: reflect (personal)

When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;

“Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain (ll.3-4);

Do I agree that poetry, or Art in general, is as vital to

life as food? [I do, actually—thus my profession.]

fifth reading: reflect (personal)

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, 10Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love [. . .]

“Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love [. . .]” (ll.11-12)

I am personally suspicious of the power of “unreflecting love,” committed as I am to intentionally pursuing the love of my life.

fifth reading: reflect (personal)

[. . .] then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

“[. . .] I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink” (ll.13-14)

I can sympathize with the idea that, in the face of one’s inevitable mortality, both relationships and

accomplishments can seem inconsequential