Bright star, may I be as firm as you

Adelbert 2022-04-24 07:01:24

It tells the story of the great British poet Keats who fell in love with his neighbor Fanny after moving to a friend's house in Hampstead.

Fanny is passionate about fashion and sewing, and enjoys partying and dancing. As a result, Keats' friend Mr. Browne disliked her, seeing her as a superficial woman who only knew sewing and flirting with men. But Fanny fell in love with Keats, and she began to buy Keats' poetry collections to read, the first being Endymion.

Later, he discovered that Fanny's feelings were so firm. He had a great time because of Fanny, who also inspired his poetry.

His friends got in the way, believing that Fanny would ruin his genius and his freedom. He himself knew that he was only a poor poet, too indebted and unable to give Fanny a rich life. He left Fanny.

Separation did not make their feelings subside, on the contrary, their feelings intensified in the yearning. Keats wrote many poems to Fanny and sent them to her.

When he came back again, he caught a cold while out, and later his condition worsened and turned into tuberculosis. Because the British winter is so cold, his friends raised money to send him to Italy, where the weather is warmer.

However, he never returned.

Fanny took off her fancy dress, put on mourning clothes, and kept her filial piety for three years. His engagement ring, the one his mother had left him, was on Fanny's finger, guarding her for the rest of her life.

Before his death, Keats considered his poetic achievements worthless, and while he was alive, he became the greatest romantic poet.

bright star

【English】Keats

Bright star, may I be as steadfast as you—

Do not hang high in the night sky in the brilliance of loneliness

Like a naturally patient, sleepless hermit

With eyes open forever, watch

Flowing waters around the shores of the world

Do the homework of the pastor's cleaning and baptism,

Or gaze upon the hills and fields,

The mask of soft snow——

No—but still firm, still not easy,

The head rests on the mature breast of my beautiful lover,

Feel her soft ups and downs forever,

Always awake in sweet restlessness,

Constantly, constantly listening to her gentle breathing,

So immortal - or let me die in obsession.

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Extended Reading

Bright Star quotes

  • Fanny Brawne: [the night before he leaves] You know I would do anything.

    John Keats: I have a conscience.

  • Charles Armitage Brown: I - failed - John - Keats! I failed him, I failed him! I did not know till now how tightly he wound himself around my heart.