There are many aspects of the world today that give us reason to overthink and
be fearful. John Keats’, “When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be,”
discusses this and warns the readers of what may happen if this is taken to an
extreme. The narrator goes through life until finally he understands the
inevitability of time and realizes the things most precious to him. In the first
quatrain of the poem, Keats uses a substantial metaphor comparing the gathering
of grain with the gathering of his thoughts. The speaker is concerned that he
wont complete his poetry. To die young is to die before one has the opportunity
to harvest the fruits of the mind that have been “ripened” from old age.
Keats then goes on showing how the speaker doesn’t want to die ignorant. The
night’s starr’d face” (line 5) is symbolic of the ultimate questions in a
person’s life and the speaker is fearful that he may die before he discovers
them. The third quatrain helps to discuss the transience of things. The “fair
creature of an hour” (line 9) is probably a lover. The speaker is addressing
the lover but it is evident that she is not the main concern. This unreflecting
love the only love he may get. “Then on the shore/ Of the wide world I stand
alone, and think/ Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink” (lines 12-14). In
Keats’ rhyming couplet he is saying that if the speaker has fears, then he is
alone. He is standing on the “shore,” on the edge, separated, and far apart
from the rest of the world. The things the speaker finds precious, “Love”
and “Fame,” in the end are insubstantial and dissolve to “nothingness”
because he never did anything about them. Thinking will lead to a person’s
destruction. Being too self-conscious takes away from living one’s life.
Keats’ speaker warns us that if we live in fear then this will lead to death
both physically and mentally.