Bright star Flashcards
(14 cards)
summary
the speaker addresses the North Star which appears unchanging in the night sky. he begins by saying that he wishes he were as ‘steadfast’ as the star but then he says he does not mean he wants to be in ‘lone spleadndor’ gazing down on oceans, the snow covered mountains and moors. Insetad he wants to be steadfast in the sense of ebing close to his beloved, pillowed on her breast. he wants never to leave her and always be close to ehr and ehar her breathing
when was bright star written?
November 1819
‘my fair love’
most scholars agree thatr this ferers to Fanny Brawne although Keats bigorpaher Robert Gittibgs disputes this and thinks this is adressed to Mrs Isablla Jones with whom keats supposedly had an affair
what evedence is there to support the poem is about fanny?
keats letter to Fanny written in July in 1819 “yours ever, fair star” However it has been pointed out that keats here is thinking of Frannt as trhe evening star venus wheres bright star ius about the north star
context about keats letters to Fanny
they emt in december 1818 and declared tehir lobe they were engaged in 1819. keats burned all their last letters and they were buried with him it is hard to known th precise nature of there relasionship . what is clear hwoever is that it was passioante and mutual and central to their lives
wordsworth
the poems opening foru lines have been compared to keats description of Windermere in his letter to his brother Tom in 1818 “sensual vision of north star which can never cease to be” this remidns us of keats admeration of Wordsworth whilts simulatnously wishing to establish hismelf as distinct fromw words worths style hence the term “camelion poet” - “looked on the lar star as a guide”- Wordsworth
tone
changes abrubtly at the sonnets Volta-this would be expected in a petcharian sonnet but is less usual in keats chosen structure of the shakepsearean sonnet. the purity and steadfastness if the star turns into the warm sensouous of physical love with images if ‘loves ripening breast’ risinga nd falling.
sensous langauge
suggests the physicality he yearns for ‘pillowed’ teh sounds ‘soft fall and swell’ the sibilance and the softness if the ‘sw’ and the frictaive ‘f’ sounds enact the tenderness of the act if laying his cjeek upon the breast
structure
shakespearean sonnet constructed is constructed around the contrast and cold isolaotion and warm communion. the octave focuses on the image f the ‘bright star’ traditionally an image of permanance, hwoever the personified star is rejected as the sonnet moves into the sestet. this turn (or Volta) is indicated by the emphatic world ‘no’. From this point the sonnet becomes much warmer ebven paointing erotic images
sahkespeare
also uses the same image in julius ceaser as he likens himself to the pole star and sjeales aso ceelbrates love in the same way as it is ‘an ever fixed mark’ ‘is the star to every wandering bark’ in sonnet 116
‘eremite’
a christian hermite or recluse-emphasies the sense thar the star removal from the tangable world of humanity. In contrast keats wants to be fully in contact with his beloved over whom he watches
‘sweet unrest’
both the star and keats share an inability to sleep, although for keats this may be rotic
dicontinuity
keats reflects on the disconuinity between man and nature as well as longing for idetification, he espaires to be as fixed as the star but at the same time is aware that this is splitary and inhuman
tension
the restlessness of romantic passion. the permanent and eternal may consitutye ab ideak but keats is also aware this ideal is impossible. The human heart can never be tranquil like the star human emotions know confluct of joy and pain. Human desire an ectassy if passion both inetnse ans annihlating a kind of ‘swoon to death’
