Context
He wrote poem April 1819
Got engaged to fanny in October 1819
At this stage in his life, symptoms of turbocolisis was worsening, leading him to feel his imminent death was inevitable
Letters to fanny: ‘i want a brighter word than bright, a fairer word than fair’ to describe her
Contrast Shakespeare’s sonnet 116
‘Love is an ever fixed mark’
What tone is created through the words ‘aloft’ ‘splendour’ and ‘Lone’
Idealises the star, aloft shows it is above humanity and more transcendent
Why does the speaker directly speak to the star?
Respect, direct address, love for FB, wants the constancy of the star (fears death)
Keats subverts the traditional apostrophe as the speaker that they do not want to copy the star
‘Not in…’ isolated, far from humanity, estranged from human connections
First line opens with the spondee ‘bright star’
Spondee is loud, speaker wants to be heard, but humans need connections but the star is unable to respond - yearning for something unsettled, not iambic…
What impact does the assonance linking ‘bright’ and ‘I’ show
Sonic sound link, the speaker wants to copy and be like the star, to bind themselves to the star.
Star describe ‘lone splendour’ why does Keats link these words with repeated. ‘I’ sounds
Lulling, no excitement, no connection, repetition of the same sounds, trapped in cycle OR luxuriant ‘l’ sounds star is beautiful and splendid
Present tense to describe star ‘watching’
Star= constant guidance, omnipresent, unchanging…’eternal lids apart’ speaker wants the eternity but there is something about it which is a bit unnatural and uncomfortable.
Personification of the star as a ‘hermit’
Desert is vast, stars relationship w/humanity is void, hermit is isolated/lonely no human connections
Assonance to link ‘human’ and ‘ablution’
Ceremonial washing - speaker wants to cleanse himself of impurities/imperfections and be like the star, he later accepts and embraces his flaws, linking these words, emphasising that there are human practices that the star is too remote to participate in
The ‘or’ suggests that the star has an alternative to ‘watching’ but this is only ‘gazing’
Star only exists in on state, the star is constant but fixed in one emotional state! Can’t experience anything else
Emjambment to separate the ‘gazing’ from what is being watched (snow)
We feel the distance of the star, star sees it from far away and takes a moment to figure out what it is, humanity experiences things instantaneously, no separation and humans are immersed in
Caesura after ‘no’
Breaking apart, moment of pause, doesn’t want to idealise the star anymore- wants human connections
Assonance sounds in ‘pillowed’
Represent the comfort that love provides, physical binding/comfort/intimacy literally creates the sound of breathing wants to emphasise the connection humans get
‘Still’ and ‘forever’
Wants eternity, locked in a passionate embrace
‘Ripening’
When something grows and reaches its fullest, most intense ans beautiful BUT then it will DECA, humanity has beauty bc of finitude/transcience
‘Fall and swell’ of lovers breast
Speaker can feel the breathing, contrast the mechanical movement of ‘moving waters’ earlier. Humans can actually FEEl the sensation and passion whereas the star can only surveil and can’t feel intensely
Slant rhyme ‘un changeable’ ‘swell’
Not a full rhyme, speakers lack of fulfilment, aware they will not have the constancy of the star something about the structure is not STEADFAST as it was. Maybe satisfied bc sinking into human intimacy
Paradoxical lang ‘sweet unrest’
Life is ‘unrest’ bc they are filled constantly filled with changing emotions, they are in flux, they are mortal, - but this is ‘sweet’ bc it is uniquely human, there is something ‘sweet’ about being unstable and being in a state of unrest
Epizeuxis ‘still, still’
Fixed in place or time, still fixated on their desire to be immortal, repetition is a type of constancy and unwillingness to change - but also reflects the intensify of human emotion - we get a presentation of how humanity is tangled in a divergent desire for intense emotion/ immortality
Caesura in final line
Breaks/prevents humanity from pursuing the star’s immortality further, breaks the line/thought, puts us on a different path
Final rhyming couplet is formally perfect
Shows a resolution, he recognises that humanity should not be pursuing immortality, being mortal is part of life’s ambiguity, NC, offers its own form of perfection
Whole poem only one sentence
Represent passion and emphasise the time constraints that human have, we have to quickly enjoy life, it’s instantaneous we don’t get to sprawl across a vast amount of time
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‘o Solitude! If I Must With Thee Dwell’5
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‘on First Looking Intio Chapman’s Homer’8
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‘On The Sea’9
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‘in Drear-nighted December’8
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‘OSDTRKLOA’18
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‘WIHFTIMCTB’12
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The Eve Of St.Agnes14
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To Sleep16
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Escapism In On The Sea And Sleep1
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Why The Transition To Odes?9
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Ode To Psyche23
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Ode To A Grecian Urn24
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Ode To Nightingale29
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Ode On Melancholy22
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Bright Star25
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To Autumn27
