John Keats Research Paper

Bright Star
The Romantic Movement brought along a change in literacy and art. It also introduced many prominent poets to the time period, one of these poets being John Keats. He “wrote some of the greatest English language poems including” Bright Star (Merriman 1). Although his life was very short, he left an imprint for poets such as Lord Alfred Tennyson and Wilfred Owen (Ziraldo 1). His work has been characterized as containing “elaborate word choice and sensual imagery” (1). Additionally, his poetry has been identified as “varied, intense, and rich in texture and experience,” despite living a short life of only twenty-five years. In order to truly understand the genius behind Keats’ work, it is important to first understand how he began
The oldest of four children, he “was born to keepers of a London livery stable” that sadly, both died during his younger years (Holderlin 559). He had, what many would identify as, “little to no advantages” in life, advantages that would help bring out his poetic ingeniousness, and all of these disadvantages started with him having to overcome these early tragic deaths (559-560). At the age of eight, Keats’ father was killed in a horse accident. Only a few years later, his mother was killed as well, however, the details surrounding her death are not as clear, but many assume that it was from complications of Tuberculosis (560). Following the death of his mother, Keats grandmother “appointed two London merchants, Richard Abbey and John Rowland Sandell as guardians” (561). Abbey took a majority of the responsibility. Abbey withdrew Keats from the school at which he was attending, Enfield, and started his training with an “apothecary-surgeon” (Clarke 1). Although this is quite different than the path that one would expect from the writer of Bright Star, Keats went on to gain his certificate in 1816 and would soon discover his true love for writing was waiting just around the corner
In the beginning of the poem Keats expresses how he desires to be as steadfast as a star. But by the end he realized this cannot be achieved by a human because the world is constantly changing. The steadfastness of the star is emphasized in the beginning lines. Keats desires to be like this star but in lines two through eight it is shown that he is nothing like the star. The star is alone and cannot live in the beauty of the earth. Keats goes on to define his terms of steadfastness in a world unlike the stars. By the end of the poem he is content with the way things