john keats’ when i have fears that i may cease to be
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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 - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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John Keats’ When I Have Fears That I May
Cease to Be
By: Jack Mitchell
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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
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“When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be”
• Written in 1818, three years before Keats’ death
• Published posthumously in 1848
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“When I Have Fears…”
• Sonnet (English) • Formal, lyric poem• 3 quatrains, 1 couplet• Iambic pentameter
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink
ABABCDCDEFEFGG
Q 1
Q 2
Q 3
Couplet
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“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
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink
Q 1
Q 2
Q 3
Couplet
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“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
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink.
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“When I Have Fears…”
• Uses a similie in line 4• Compares knowledge to crops• Aspects of nature
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink
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“When I Have Fears…”
• Uses imagery of nature• One of the main aspects of Romantic period
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink
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“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
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink
Caesura Volta
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink
ExplicationWhen I get scared about dyingBefore I can write down all of my thoughtsBefore I can write books filled with languageThat contain my matured knowledge
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink
Explication
When I look at the night skyAnd all the clouds and starsAnd think that I will not live to see allOf the things one might see in the sky
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink
Explication
And when I think, beautiful womanThat I will never see you againNever take joy in your womanly powerOf undying love
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When I have fears that I may cease to beBefore 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 traceTheir 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 powerOf unreflecting love – then on the shoreOf the wide world I stand alone, and thinkTill love and fame to nothingness do sink
Explication
Then I will be alone in this world and thinkUntil romanticism dies
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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
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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
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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/173753>.