It is unfortunate that writing love poems and love letters has been replaced by texting, email and Facebook wall posts. Something has been lost, culturally, by this trend. I think we are in too much of a hurry. Today I am in contemplation of the poem “Bright Star” , a gem of a sonnet. The poem and Keats’ romance which Fanny Brawne inspired a 2009 movie called, oddly enough, “Bright Star” . The movie looks worth watching, particularly since it was written and directed by Jane Campion, who has a way with these types of stories.
The first 8 lines of the sonnet describe the eternal purity and aloneness of a bright star, ever there, alone, lovely, eternal and sleepless (since stars don’t really sleep). Keats describes his desire to be like the bright star, except that he prefers not to be alone. The word Eremite in the poem is an interesting classical allusion that should just be considered as a hermit with a more elegant name. Although Keats seems to be addressing a star in this beginning, the final lines show that it is merely a frame of reference for the rest of the poem, that this description is actually of a person, his love.
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death.
Lines 9-14 show his love is no longer far-removed from him, idealized; the characteristics (steadfastness, etc) remain- but she is approachable, his “fair love”. With his line “Awake for ever in a sweet unrest” , Keats demonstrates his mastery of subtlety, which is romantic in and of itself. Who would not want this? Who would not want to be the object of this poem, to be the one snuggling eternally, so revered as this bright star? Who would not want their love to want to embrace life together until death do us part?
This notion he presents that life is not worth bothering with after the “tender-taken breath” has ceased, is moving, not creepy. It reminds me of the stories one hears about husbands and wives who die within months of one another. Loving so deeply that your very vitality depends upon the other’s existence runs contrary to our modern ideals of independence, personal determination and such but yet it remains a vital pillart of our humanity. This kind of love makes one vulnerable. The passion makes the risk acceptable.
Keats’ use of the word “still” four times in five lines is nearly hypnotic. This is another example of the excellent use of multiple meaning words: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/still
still – adjective. Remaining in place or at rest.
still – adverb. In the future as in the past; even; in addition; yet.
still – verb. To calm or appease.
As a mother, I can’t help but draw a comparison to “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, where Max tells the wild things to “Be still”, using either the adjective or the adverb. Either way works. “Still” is a word which is very much alive. I don’t think I use it well enough, and I want to change that.
If John Keats were alive today, instead of “Bright Star”, I imagine there would be a comment on a picture of his girl: “U r so hott.” Maybe he would be more poetic than that and text her: “Ur eyes are like bright starz ☺ “. Neither has quite the same effect as the poem.
Today is my beloved husband’s birthday. He remains, still, my bright star.
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