Blog #2

Bright Star by John Keats

This short poem is all about the speaker comparing himself to the North Star. In many ways, the speaker wishes to be like this bright star, "steadfast as thou art" (Keats, line 1). This meaning that the speaker longs to be as unwavering and constant as the North Star is. At the same time though, Keats states that he does not wish to be "in lone splendour hung aloft the night,"(Keats, line 2), such as the North Star. I believe this means that the speaker does not wish to be alone like the North Star is, but wishes to be forever in the company of his lover. Readers continue to encounter depths descriptions of the star, especially seen in the simile, "Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,"(Keats, line 4). This simile is describing the calmness and peacefulness of the star to hermit characteristic of nature. Throughout the poem, the speaker chooses bits and pieces of the star in which he does and does not wish to be like. It is clear that there are many aspects of the North Star in which the speaks wishes to inhabit, but at the same, the speaker also sees the flaws and downsides to the star. The speaker wishes to be steadfast like the star, but not all alone in sky. Instead, he wishes to remain steadily with his lover. In the end, the speaker says the if he cannot live forever in the manner as which he has described, then he wishes to be taken from this earth.