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Analysis Of John Keats 's ' On Fame ' Essay

Satisfactory Essays

Today I will be discussing one of John Keats sonnet, called “On Fame”. The three focus questions I will be discussing are, what is “On Fame” about?, what are the themes in “On Fame”? And how does “On Fame” compare to Keats 's other poems?

Firstly to understand what “On Fame” is about we need to look at its form.
“On Fame” is divided into two separate sections, with one stanza in each section. Each stanza consists of fourteen lines and is written in iambic-pentameter. Iambic-pentameter is a line of a verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable, for example in the first line of “On Fame”, “Fame, like a wayward girl, will still be coy”. The words with the orange arrow pointing at them are stressed and the words without are unstressed. The rhyme scheme for the first section is ABABCDCDEFEFGG. This is an Elizabethan rhyme scheme because it consists of three quatrains followed by a couplet. Now the rhyme scheme is different for the second section, so can you all write down what you think the rhyme scheme is for the second section. Thats right it is ABABCDCDEFEGGF. So here Keats has swapped the F and G around. We do not know why Keats did this, but often poets would not stick to an exact rhyme scheme every time.

Now we can analyse what Keats is actually saying in “On Fame”. The two stanzas are very different, in the first stanza Keats is comparing fame to a woman.

He also compares people 's want for fame to a man

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