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John Keats’ When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be

John Keats’ When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be. By: Jack Mitchell. Biography. Born October 31, 1795 in Finsbury Pavement, outside of London Oldest of four surviving children (a brother of his dies in infancy) Father dies in horse accident when he is 8

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John Keats’ When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be

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  1. John Keats’ When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be By: Jack Mitchell

  2. Biography • Born October 31, 1795 in Finsbury Pavement, outside of London • Oldest of four surviving children (a brother of his dies in infancy) • Father dies in horse accident when he is 8 • Mother dies of tuberculosis when he is 14 • Pursues career in medicine, gives up in 1814 to pursue writing (Downing) • Became friends with other writers, notably Percy Shelley

  3. “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be” • Written in 1818, three years before Keats’ death • Published posthumously in 1848

  4. “When I Have Fears…” • Sonnet (English) • Formal, lyric poem • 3 quatrains, 1 couplet • Iambic pentameter

  5. A BAB Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the starred night’s face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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 CDCD EFEF GG Couplet

  6. “When I Have Fears…” • Uses anaphora in each quatrain by beginning with “When,” “When,” “And when” to introduce a new series of thought that is focused in same direction

  7. Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the starred night’s face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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 Couplet

  8. “When I Have Fears…” • Uses end-stopped lines more than enjambment • Creates a pause at the end of almost every line in order to consolidate thoughts

  9. When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the starred night’s face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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.

  10. “When I Have Fears…” • Uses a similie in line 4 • Compares knowledge to crops • Aspects of nature

  11. When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the starred night’s face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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

  12. “When I Have Fears…” • Uses imagery of nature • One of the main aspects of Romantic period

  13. When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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

  14. “When I Have Fears…” • Uses a caesura to signify the volta • At this point the direction of the poem changes and takes new direction • The question, “What does Keats do when he gets scared of death?” raised from the first line, is answered here

  15. When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the starred night’s face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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 Caesura Volta

  16. Explication When I get scared about dying Before I can write down all of my thoughts Before I can write books filled with language That contain my matured knowledge When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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

  17. Explication When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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 When I look at the night sky And all the clouds and stars And think that I will not live to see all Of the things one might see in the sky

  18. Explication When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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 And when I think, beautiful woman That I will never see you again Never take joy in your womanly power Of undying love

  19. Explication When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high piled books, in charac’try, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 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 when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never relish in thy fairy 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 Then I will be alone in this world and think Until romanticism dies

  20. What does it mean? • At this point in his life, Keats is almost sure he will die young • He has been surrounded by death and has recently lived with and cared for his younger brother, Tom, while he was dying of tuberculosis; the disease John also died from

  21. What does it mean? • Despite all this, Keats still uses Romanticism in his writing • However, in “When I Have Fears” he denounces romantic ideas in the last line: “Til love and fame to nothingness do sink” • Looking back on his life, he realizes that romantic ideas have done nothing for him and he will die anyway

  22. Works Cited • Downing, Renee. "John Keats." http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/6 6. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 April 2011. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/ 66 • Keats, John. "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to be." http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173 753. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 April 2011. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/17 3753>.

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