Bright Star Flashcards
(17 cards)
Is Bright Star a Petrarchan, Shakespearean, or hybrid sonnet? Explain.
Hybrid – It has a Petrarchan octave (ABBA CDDC) and a sestet (EFG EFG), but ends with a Shakespearean-style couplet (“breath/death”).
What is the meter, and where is the volta? How does the volta shift the poem?
Iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line, unstressed-stressed pattern).
Volta at line 9 (“No – yet still stedfast…”): Shifts from rejecting the star’s loneliness to desiring permanence with love.
How does apostrophe function in line 1?
The speaker addresses the star directly (“Bright star, would I were…”), emphasizing longing and contrast (human vs. celestial).
Identify a simile and personification in the octave.
Simile: “Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite” (star compared to a hermit).
Personification: Star has “eternal lids apart” (human-like watching).
Find an oxymoron and hyperbole in the sestet.
Oxymoron: “sweet unrest” (line 12) – love is joyful yet restless.
Hyperbole: “swoon to death” (line 14) – exaggerates the stakes of eternal love.
Analyze sound devices in lines 5–8 (“The moving waters…”).
Alliteration: “priestlike task of pure ablution” (soft “p” sounds mimic water).
Sibilance: “soft-fallen mask of snow” (“s” sounds evoke quiet, cold isolation).
How does repetition of “still” (lines 9, 13) deepen meaning?
Emphasizes constancy (like the star) but shifts from coldness (star) to warmth (love’s breath).
What is the core conflict in the poem?
Eternity vs. mortality – The speaker wants the star’s permanence but rejects its loneliness, seeking eternal love instead.
How does Keats contrast the star’s existence with human love?
Star: “lone splendour,” cold, detached (“snow upon the moors”).
Love: “ripening breast,” “tender-taken breath” – warm, alive, intimate.
What might Keats be saying about human desires?
We crave immortality but can only achieve it metaphorically through love (even if fleeting).
What does the star symbolize?
Permanence (steadfastness) but also emotional isolation (“lone splendour”).
How do “moving waters” and “snow” reflect the speaker’s conflict?
Water: “priestlike task of pure ablution” – cleansing, cyclical (vs. star’s static watch).
Snow: Beautiful but cold – like the star’s detached eternity.
Why end with death? How does it relate to Keats’ life?
Death underscores the impossibility of eternal love (realism vs. romanticism).
Biographical link: Keats was dying of TB – the poem reflects his fear of mortality.
Describe the tone shifts in the poem.
Octave: Wistful, admiring but critical of the star’s isolation.
Sestet: Passionate, urgent (“sweet unrest”), then desperate (“swoon to death”).
How might Keats’ illness shape the poem’s message?
His tuberculosis (fatal illness) fuels the longing for permanence and fear of death in lines 13–14.
How does Bright Star compare to other Romantic poems (e.g., Wordsworth’s “Daffodils”)?
Both use nature imagery, but Keats focuses on eternity/love, while Wordsworth celebrates fleeting joy.
Is the speaker’s wish naive or profound? Debate.
Naive: Eternal love is impossible.
Profound: Celebrates love’s power to feel eternal.
