Bright Star by John Keats
January 19, 2013 § 2 Comments
I’m sharing with you whether you like it or not one of the most perfect poems I’ve read – and as a hopeless romantic I’ve read a lot of poetry. But I think you’ll like it.
It is a poem by the Romantic poet John Keats and was found in a letter to his greatest love Fanny Brawne, so I believe it was found after he’d died (at only 25). Though it had no title at the time, people have come to call it Bright Star.
Bright star, would I were steadfast 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.
Keats and Brawne’s unconsummated and deeply excruciating (in a good, lovely way) relationship inspired the 2009 movie titled, Bright Star. I recommend it if you’re up for a few tears and perfect words.
Wow…thanks for introducing me to a great poem. I read it twice and first time it seemed so simple, but the second it was incredibly deep and multifaceted. “Awake for ever…” “Still, still to hear her taken…” Some of the lines really strike me…but I can’t say why. I’ll need to think on it for a day or two…and I doubt that I’ll find the full meaning by then even… You’ve got a good eye for great poetry!
No worries! It’s way too good not to share. Don’t worry, it becomes more and more complex with each single read. It’s so beautiful. I still don’t think I fully understand it, but I’m not sure if I want to – it might distract from its beauty!