Keats And Longfellow Analysis

In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.

While both Keats and Longfellow often reflect on their own unfulfilled dreams and impending deaths, the poems however contrast on their own dispositions towards death and the future. Here, Keats expresses a fear of not having enough time to accomplish all that he believes he is capable of doing, but as he recognizes the enormity of the world and his own limitations of life, he realizes that his own mortal goals are meaningless in the long run of things. On the other hand, Longfellow speaks of a regret towards his inaction for allowing time to slip away from him in his past and is at a crossroads for the ominous future that looms ahead of him. Through the use of light and dark imagery, and personification, Keats and Longfellow similarly yet also differently, reflect on their own ideas for death and the futures that lay ahead of them.

Everyone is fearful of dying. However, because each individual is unique, everyone has different levels of fear and varying regrets. In the early 1800s, a young poet named John Keats wrote “When I Have Fears” in which he explains his fears and regrets about death. Employing devices such as sophisticated abstract diction, figurative language, and symbols, John Keats shows that living as if tomorrow would never appear is an excellent way to abandon fears about death.

As people near the time of their deaths, they begin to reflect upon the history and events of their own lives. Both John Keats’ “When I have Fears” and Henry Longfellow’s “Mezzo Cammin” reflect upon the speakers’ fears and thoughts of death. However, the conclusions between these two poems end quite differently. Although both reflect upon Death’s grasp, Keats’ displays an appreciation and subtle satisfaction with the wonders of life, while Longfellow morbidly mourns his past inactions and fears what events the future may bring.

The similarities in the poem deal with similar topics expressed throughout the poem dealing with Keats’ and Longfellow’s fear of death. Differences between the two include the structure and the different images, metaphors and diction that they give off along with their different train of thoughts while writing the two poems. Their thoughts of the subject of death are able to relate to a variety of people because everyone is just human and cannot last forever. Just as these two poems show similar ideas can branch off into many different ideas and interpretations. The desire to continue to

But, we should first and foremost put this sonnet back in its context. We can easily presume that it is autobiographic, thus that Keats reveals us his own worries. In 1818, he is aware that he has short time left to live due to the fatal illness

Mortality is a moving and compelling subject. This end is a confirmation of one’s humanity and the end of one’s substance. Perhaps that is why so many writers and poets muse about their own death in their writings. Keats and John Donne are two such examples of musing poets who share the human condition experience in When I Have Fears and Holy Sonnet 1.

One characteristic embedded in the minds of almost all humans is that of succumbing in pursuit of one’s aspirations, especially with the approach of death. The fear and enigmatic mystery of death at the brink of this shortcoming may cause one who is near death to re-evaluate life as a wasted opportunity or a broken path of dreams because of the inability to find any type of success. The sonnets “Mezzo Cammin” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and “When I have Fears” by John Keats examine the thought processes of two people who submit to the struggles of life in a depressed way. While communicating a very similar foundational message and mood in a different way through diction and structure, the speakers in “Mezzo Cammin” and “When I Have Fears” identify their despair through likewise differing literary elements which complement and bring out the message intended by these troubled individuals.

The similarities between the two poems can be seen in the first line which emphasizes the nature of life and death. Keats’ fear that he “may cease to be” goes alongside with Longfellow’s melancholy remark that “half of [his] life is gone.” The authors then proceed

The poems share commonalities in their beginnings illuminating both Keats and Longfellow’s resent over death. In Keats’s poem, his first line illuminates the whole focus of fear of death when he states, “I may cease to be.” Keats’s quote parallels Longfellow’s first line, “half of my life is gone.” Keats then uses “before” as a metaphorical anaphora to emphasize the idea that he will die before he accomplishes all that he

Death is an uneasy topic to talk about and causes nearly everyone to have negative feelings for it. Although it is inevitable and also an important part of life, people try to avoid the topic altogether because it gives them discomfort. Because it is such an important subject, one must break the awkward silence and address the topic. Longfellow makes death seem like a natural thing which must come to all living things through his rich comparisons to nature and ordinary life. In “The Tide Rises, The Tide Falls” he compares the continuous rising and falling of tides to a nameless traveler, and in his poem, “Nature” he compares nature and humans as the relationship

Keats poem, “When I Have Fears” expresses the writer’s fear of dying before he is able to fulfill his life as a writer. He wants to experience fame, become a writer and find someone to love. The very first line of the poem tells us that he has a fear of dying, because it states, “When I have fears that I may cease to be,” (Keats, Line 1). It is later on in the poem that the readers find out why he fears death.

In Longfellow’s poem he talks about being afraid towards death. Both Keats and Longfellow change direction of poems and approach death with different mentality. In Keats’s poem line five “When I behold upon the night's starr’d face/Huge cloudy symbols of high romance” which changes the poem to a more soothing and romance of a poem. From that line he doesn't talk about opportunities just about love. But yet it is a depressing part of the poem because he is afraid he isn’t going to meet the love of his life because death will come to him first.

The author explores the idea of death, and how people are afraid of it up until they’ve lived long enough to not be afraid of it any longer. It wasn’t hard for me to discern the significance of this poem. I don’t mean to boast about myself but rather to highlight the fact that this poem is written very simply, even though the poem is of a heavy topic. Because of this, I feel that the poem seems to give off a natural feeling when reading. I believe that because the poem is so casual, it only emphasizes its underlying meaning that death is a natural occurrence.

In the poems “Mezzo cammin” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and “ When I have a fear” by John keats, both poems themes are about the imminence of death and their unfulfilled dreams in life. There are many similarities in the poem but they are mostly in the beginning of the poems, the conclusion on the other hand is not similar. In “Mezzo cammin’’ the main theme of the poem is the reminisce of his dreams from the past. Keats poems emphasize a theme of the waste of a physical life and his fears associated with this waste.