Bright Star Would I Were as Steadfast as Thou Art
Text transcribed by Keats into a volume of Shakespeare in late September 1820.
"Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou fine art" is a love sonnet by John Keats.
Background [edit]
It is unclear when Keats first drafted "Vivid Star"; his biographers suggest different dates. Andrew Motion suggests it was begun in October 1819.[one] Robert Gittings states that Keats began the poem in April 1818 – before he met his beloved Fanny Brawne – and he after revised it for her.[two] Colvin believed information technology to have been in the last week of February 1819, immediately afterwards their breezy appointment.
The final version of the sonnet was copied into a book of The Poetical Works of William Shakespeare, opposite Shakespeare'south poem, A Lover's Complaint. The book had been given to Keats in 1819 by John Hamilton Reynolds. Joseph Severn maintained that the final draft was transcribed into the book in late September 1820 while they were aboard the ship Maria Crowther, travelling to Rome, from where the very ill Keats would never return. The book also contains one sonnet by his friend Reynolds and one by Severn. Keats probably gave the volume to Joseph Severn in Jan 1821 before his death in February, aged 25.[3] [iv] Severn believed that information technology was Keats'south last verse form and that it had been composed specially for him.
The poem came to exist forever associated with the "Bright Star" Fanny Brawne – with whom Keats became infatuated. Gittings says it was given every bit "a announcement of his honey."[5]
It was officially published in 1838 in The Plymouth and Devonport Weekly Journal, 17 years afterwards Keats'due south death.
The text [edit]
Brilliant star! would I were stedfast every bit thou art—
Not in lonely splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature'south patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution circular earth'south human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet notwithstanding stedfast, all the same unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft autumn and nifty,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Nevertheless, still to hear her tender-taken jiff,
And and then live always—or else swoon to decease.[6]
Addressed to a star (perchance Polaris, effectually which the heavens announced to wheel), the sonnet expresses the poet'due south wish to be as constant equally the star while he presses confronting his sleeping love. The utilize of the star imagery is unusual in that Keats dismisses many of its more apparent qualities, focusing on the star's steadfast and passively watchful nature. In the showtime recorded draft (copied by Charles Brown and dated to early on 1819), the poet loves unto decease; by the final version, death is an alternative to (ephemeral) dearest.
The verse form is punctuated every bit a single sentence and uses the rhyme form of the Shakespearean sonnet (ABABCDCDEFEFGG) with the customary volta, or turn in the train of thought, occurring later on the octave.
In popular culture [edit]
In Alexander Theroux'southward 1981 novel Darconville's Cat the poem is discussed by the protagonist when teaching his English language class.
The 2009 biopic on Keats's life starring Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish, focused on the final iii years of his life and his relationship with Fanny Brawne. It was named Bright Star after this poem, which is recited multiple times in the film.
In the Covert Affairs episode "Speed of Life" (Flavor three, Episode 4) the grapheme Simon Fischer admits to Annie Walker that the tattoo on his upper left shoulder blade of Ursa Minor was inspired past John Keats's poem. Although she asks him, Simon doesn't tell her who in his life was his vivid star or the reason behind getting the tattoo. This tattoo is the symbol used by Jai Wilcox to marking Simon Fischer'due south dossier inside the CIA.
In the DC Comics event series Heroes in Crisis upshot #6 by writer Tom Male monarch and artist Clay Isle of man, Gnarrk recites the verse form on a full page showing him lying over his mammoth under a articulate beautiful sky.
References [edit]
- ^ Motion (1997) p472
- ^ Gittings (1969) p 415
- ^ Notes and Queries Article, Oxford Journals, 2006. Notes and Queries article
- ^ "Run across the volume at the Keats Business firm archive". Archived from the original on 2010-12-03. Retrieved 2010-06-08 .
- ^ Gittings (1968), p293-eight
- ^ Keats, John (1905). Sélincourt, Ernest De (ed.). The Poems of John Keats. New York: Dodd, Mead & Visitor. p. 288. OCLC 11128824.
Bibliography [edit]
- Colvin, Sidney. John Keats: His Life and Poesy, His Friends, Critics and After-Fame (London: Macmillan, 1917)
- Lancashire, Ian. 'John Keats: Bright Star', Representative Verse Online (Toronto: Academy, 2003). Retrieved July 27, 2005.
External links [edit]
- An autobus collection of Keats' poetry at Standard Ebooks
mitchellnortrinter.blogspot.com
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_star,_would_I_were_stedfast_as_thou_art
0 Response to "Bright Star Would I Were as Steadfast as Thou Art"
Post a Comment