Keats is fearful of dying before he has been able to write everything down, to get every thought that he wants to leave behind, out of his head, to make his mark on the world. This is stated with the first quatrain, by him worrying of ceasing to be before “gleaning his teeming” brain with his pen and writing books, getting all of his ideas written down. He also worries that he will be gone before he has a chance to fully behold the world all around him and transform it into poetry. That is the second quatrain, as he describes his beholding the starry sky and clouds, and being unable to “trace their shadows with the magic hand…”. In the third, shortened quatrain, he contemplates love, and how it too will have to come to an end too soon, and how he may never be able to enjoy the mysterious power behind love. The final quatrain finds him standing alone on the shore, thinking. By thinking about these fears, he has resolved them in his mind, and rather than strive for fame and love, is accepting of the insignificance of one’s life in the timeline. The metaphor of the shore serves as a threshold; between his fear and longing, and his peace with the world.
TL;DR: Sad sad sad happy
Poem brown townysis for my online class.
I typed it in Word first so I could do a word count.
