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When I have Fears That I May Cease to Be
John Keats, 1818.
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
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“Give me books, French wine, fruit, fine weather and a little music played out of doors by somebody I do not know.”
- John Keats
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Thoughts
In this sonnet, the speaker ponders his death. He expresses deep anxiety over dying young before achieving his poetic potential, experiencing a profound romantic love, or securing lasting fame.
Ultimately all these worries and uncertainties are viewed in light of "the wide world." Of what value is love or fame anyway when there stands mortality: an unstoppable force not to be averted.
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