In John Keats’s “When I Have My fears” and Henry Longfellow’s “Mezzo Cammin”, the poets share their outlook on death. Both writers filled themselves with the concern of dying before they created a fulfilling life. Although Keats and Longfellow both portrayed their similar theme using parallel structures and language, the two works differ in the two poets’ rhyme schemes and tones. In the beginning quatrain of “When I Have My Fears”, Keats begins by writing about his doubt that his insight might not have time to reach other people. He worries his most important thoughts will not be written down and there will be no books that share his valuable knowledge. Keats moves on through the next quatrain by revealing to the audience that another concern …show more content…
However, the beginning of the sonnets follow a different rhyme scheme. Keats chose to follow the ABAB pattern while Longfellow selected an ABBA arrangement. Both then continue to follow the standard sonnet structure CDCD EFEF GG and use the break in between the second and third quatrains to shift thoughts, otherwise known as the volta. At the volta of each poem is where we truly see how each poet feels about death. Keats appears more accepting of death where Longfellow struggles with the idea of letting it conquer him. Besides the similar structure, another way the poems compare is in the language the poets create. Keats and Longfellow admit to the fear that they will pass before they have the opportunity to make their mark on the Earth. They chose to view death as vast and imminent. The poets also show comparison in their writing by connecting nature to their works. Keats looks up at the starred sky and reflects on his theme and Longfellow looks up a mountain. Despite using similar structure, language, and themes, Keats and Longfellow create different tones that depict their attitudes about death. In “When I Have My Fears”, Keats recognized death as inevitable, but includes these elements to create a reverent and accepting tone. However, Longfellow feels as though he will never live up to the life he desired for himself and uses the language and structure to create
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.
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.
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.
As one of the most frequently used themes, death has been portrayed and understood differently throughout modern history as well as by poets Christina Rossetti and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in “Remember” and the “Cross of Snow.” It appears in literature as the preeminent dilemma, one that is often met by emotions such as grief, hopefulness, depression, and one that can encompass the entire essence of any writing piece. However, despite Rossetti’s “Remember” and Longfellow’s “Cross of Snow” employing death as a universal similarity, the tones, narratives, and syntaxes of the poems help create two entire different images of what the works are about in the readers’ minds.
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.
While both Keats and Longfellow’s poems, “When I Have Fears” and “Mezzo Cammin,” focus on the unfulfillment of goals in life and the menacing appearance of death, their final assumptions of death are related but different. Both poems share similarity focusing on the poets’ thoughts as they contemplate the inevitability of their deaths and whether their accomplishments have meaning after death, but the poets exhibit a different attiutude towards their subject. Keats fears that he will not be able to fully accomplish his life goals before he dies, but he acknowledges the frivolity of earthly aspirations when faced with death. On the other hand, Longfellow, while also mourning the loss of his chance to accomplish his goals, maintains comfort in the past compared to the uncertain future. Longfellow maintains a grim, pessimistic tone throughout his poem juxtaposes the almost hopeful tone Keats exhibits throughout his poem. Through the use of imagery, literary devices, and diction, Keats and Longfellow convey their overall contrasting attitudes toward death.
John Keats’ “When I have fears” and Longfellow’s “Mezzo Cammin” both reflect on the sorrow each poet feels recognizing their unaccomplished life goals as they are moving closer to death. However, their conclusions set them apart. By utilizing night imagery and diction of fear and hopelessness, Keats illustrates the meaningless nature of the speaker’s life. While Longfellow uses diction of regret and hope imagery to demonstrate the mornings of regrets. Both uses different rhyme schemes.
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.
In both of the poems “When I have fears” and “Mezzo Cammin” both are based on death and have a depairing tone. However in “When I have fears” is different from “Mezzo Cammin” because the man in the poem is trying his best to reach his goal, but ultimately fails making feel hopeless. They both have different shifts and endings that occur making both poems different from each other by the end result by the way they react to death. Both Keats and Longfellow have the same idea of death in the beginning of their poems. Keats’s beginnings in the first sentence “When I have fears that I may cease to be,” is similar to Longfellow’s “Half of my life is gone.”
Literature has a way of speaking to us. Its timelessness allows us to relate and connect with people from centuries before ours. John Keats’ When I Have Fears, discusses a topic that most people have thought about at least once in their lives; the fear of death.
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 these passages, poetry can be directly related to the possibility of death being averted. One by keep the drive awake and not falling asleep at the wheel. The other, had May reached for some of her late husband’s med and not the book by Yeats she may have
By an effort of the imagination, Keats attempts to suppress all knowledge of the human
Time spent fearing the passage of time wastes the very thing that one dreads losing. Both Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 73" and Keats’s "When I have Fears that I May Cease to Be" reveal the irrationality of this fear and explore different interpretations of this theme: to Keats death equates an inability to reach his potential, to accomplish what he desires; to Shakespeare death (represented in the metaphors of autumn, twilight, and ashes) will separate him from earthly, physical love. Through various rhetorical strategies and content of sub-themes, these authors ultimately address their struggle with mortality and time; their
Like many poets, John Keats has had a very troubling and traumatic life and it shows in his writings of poetry. Death and many other awful troubles causing him to have a life that anyone would feel horrible in. John Keat’s poetry has many dark recurring themes. One speculation is that his poetry was an escape from his melancholy filled life. There are many aspects to Keats’s life that could have been motivation to write his poetry. One would say that he connected works of poetry with the events of his life.