Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art
By John Keats
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.
Summary of Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art
- Popularity of “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art”: Written by the popular English romantic poet, John Keats, this sonnet “Bright Star” first appeared in the print format in 1838. The Plymouth and Devonport Weekly Journal published this sonnet but almost seventeen years after the death of Keats. The beauty and polarity of the poem lie in the direct address to the bright star and its similarity with human features of steadfastness and patience.
- “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art” As a Representative of Steadfastness in Human Beings: The poet addresses the bright star extolling its steadfastness in emitting brightness and showing its everlasting splendor. However, the poet is desirous to borrow this trait from the star and yet wants to stay at home at night and does not want to hang out during the night. The poet is of the view that he does not want to be like a hermit who suffers from insomnia or does not want to go on to see things such as oceans, or human shores, or masks, or snowy mountains, or moors. Yet he wants to be steadfast and unchanged in lying on the chest of his beloved, feeling her heartbeat, sleeping and yet not sleeping. This is the desire of the poet to stay in this permanence or else die.
- Major Themes in “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art”: Deathwish, permanence of sensual pleasure, and desire to achieve permanence or death are major themes of this poem. The poet highlights his death wish by the end, saying that if he achieves permanence in his sensual pleasure lying on the breasts of his beloved, it is like achieving the brightness of the star and if not, it is better to die. This death wish in Keats’ poetic output is a permanent strain that runs through his poetry. However, the strain of sensual pleasure that appears here is intermittent in other poems and yet is forceful here. Either this pleasure or death is perhaps a unique option that the poet has presented in this sonnet.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art
John Keats uses various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of his poem. Some of the major literary devices are as follows.
- Apostrophe: It is a literary device that shows the call of the poet to some dead person or object or an abstract idea, such as the poet calls the star “Bright star.”
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /e/ in “No—yet still stedfast, still unchangeable” and the sound of /a/ and /o/ in “Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night.”
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /r / in “Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art” and the sound of /t/ and /s/ in “Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. John Keats used imagery in this poem, such as “Like nature’s patient, sleepless Eremite”, “The moving waters at their priestlike task” and “Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects different in nature. The poet used the metaphor of the star to show his own position.
- Personification: It means to attribute human emotions to inanimate objects. The poet used the personification of the bright star to show its human feature of steadfastness.
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as star, night, patient, eremite, and mountains to show the power of nature on man.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows good use of formal, poetic, and sensual diction.
- End Rhyme: It means to use verses having matching end words. John Keats shows the use of end rhyme such as art/apart and night/eremite.
- Quatrain: It is a Persian stanza having four verses. The poem shows the use of a quatrain as the first stanza.
- Rhyme Scheme: This sonnet shows ABABCDCD rhyme scheme in its octave and DEDEFF in its sestet.
- Sonnet: It is a fourteen-lined poem. This poem is a sonnet.
- Sestet: It is a six-lined stanza that occurs in the sonnets as its second part. The sestet of this poem is “No – yet…” too “Swoon to death.”
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows an admiring tone in the beginning and is highly sensual by the end.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote when talking about the use of sensual language.
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