Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Incomplete
Keats' poem, "When I have Fears that I may Cease to Be" is a resonating
poem that reflects a moment of contemplation that eventually everyone in
their life reaches. The recognition that each person has of their own
mortality and that, ultimately, they will leave the world incomplete and
with unfinished business. As he laments that he will expire before his "pen has glean'd [his] teeming brain", we come to realize that the point of his poem
is that you could live forever and never be finished with everything you
have to do because as long as you live, you'll still be doing these
things. He is saying that he could never live long enough to say
everything he has to say or write everything that he has to write and
this poem is acknowledgment that his time is limited and even if he had
forever, there would always be something to occupy his attention and he
will never succeed at doing everything it is that he wants.
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After reading this living hand, this poem kind of makes more sense to me. Given the context that we learned in class it would seem that these could be seen as companion poems; both seem to give the sense that Keats feels like he has so much to offer. It is ironic that both poems have a similar message but that This Living Hand turned out to be more prophetic.
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