BRIGHT STAR

Summary

The poet begins the poem by wishing to be like the star for its quality of remaining
still and unchanged. The poet’s desires are in contrast with the normal life of a living
being which is ever changing and never still. However, the poet soon eliminates the
limitations of being a star, when he clarifies that he does not wish for the loneliness
that seems to accompany the star but wishes for its patience. The poet wants to be
unchangeable, he wants to be like the star who watches the snow covered
mountains, the moving waters and the changes occurring every second on the
earth, without these changes affecting it. The cause for this impossible desire is
mentioned by the poet in the following lines. He wishes to remain still and
unchangeable while lying in the lap of his lover.

Structure

In this poem Keats uses the Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme (ABAB CDCD
EFEF GG) and the thought-pattern of a Petrarchan or "Italian" sonnet: one thought-
part in the first eight lines (the "octet") and one thought-part in the last six lines (the
"sestet").
The poem is written in a iambic pentameter, consisting of five ("penta") pairs of
unstressed and stressed beats ("iambs"):
The end of the lines is not always end-stopped but it continues in the following line
producing a sense of incompleteness. As a matter of fact these run-on lines as in line
5/6“…task/of …”, 7/8 “..masque/of” have the function of giving fluidity to the
poem.
Main theme
The main theme of Keats's poem is the idea of eternity. This is the reason why the
star is so important to Keats's speaker: because it lasts forever. Over the course of
the poem, however, it becomes clear that the speaker doesn't just want any old
eternity – especially not an eternity isolated in the top of the high heavens like the
star. Instead, he wants to spend eternity with his head pressed against his
girlfriend's chest.
Tone
The tone of the poem is melancholy in the sense of its description of an
unachievable desire. However, it has an undertone of softness which is typical of the
romantic lyric. To achieve this tone, the poet uses several poetic devices as:
ALLITERATION
Line 1 alliteration on st sounds at the beginnings of the words "Star" and "stedfast."
Line 7 : “soft fallen mask”
Line 8: “mountains… moors”
Line 9 " alliteration on st sounds still" and "stedfast..
Line 11: alliteration on f in "feel, "for," and "fall," as well as on s in "soft," and
"swell."
Line 12, an f alliterating with those of the previous line, while the sw at the
beginning of "sweet" looks back to the sw at the beginning of "swell."

ASSONANCE
Line 13 “ her tender-taken”

ENJAMBEMENT
There is enjambement throughout.
Line 5/6
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Line 7/8
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen masque
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors
This device gives to the poem stylistic fluidity both in terms of grammatical structure
and in terms of thoughts running through the poem.

SYMBOL
In line 1 the speaker uses the Bright Star as a highly resonant image brought in to
illustrate what he's talking about, so it becomes a symbol for his thoughts
PERSONIFICATION
Line 3: When Keats describes the star as "watching, with eternal lids apart," he uses
the literary device of personification to gives us a clearer image of what eternity
might feel like.
Line 4: The device of personification continues when the poet uses the adjectives
"patient" and "sleepless" to describe the star
PARALLELISM

Line 9: This line marks the "turn" of the sonnet from talking about the star's eternity
to the way the speaker would like to experience eternity on a human scale. He
emphasizes the feeling of endurance (resistenza) that he desires through the figure
of speech known as parallelism. Like it sounds, this involves the repetition of words
for effect, as Keats does with the word "still" when he says "yet still stedfast, still
unchangeable."

OXIMORON

In line 12, Keats emphasizes the intensity of his desire for eternity by using an
oxymoron that is the figure of speech where you combine two terms ordinarily
seen as opposites: "sweet unrest." Normally, we don't think of not being able to
sleep as "sweet,"

PARADOX
This final line underscores the paradox embedded in the overall poem. The speaker
longs to be like the star, steadfast and unchanging, so that he can remain in this
moment forever. However, the very nature of a moment is to be changeable. Thus,
the speaker’s desire to “live ever” will always carry the threat (minaccia) of his
coming death.
METAPHOR
Line 4: The noun “Eremite” is a Christian term for a hermit or recluse. Eremites live
away from humanity because they believe a secluded prayer-focused life will bring
about clarity that frees them from the sins of humanity. Here, the speaker compares
the star’s “sleepless,” ever-open eyes to those of an Eremite. This metaphor further
emphasizes the isolation and estrangement from humanity of the star.

The language in this poem is rhetorical and metaphorical.

In this sonnet Keats reflects on the discontinuity between man and nature, as well
as a longing for identification. The poet aspires to the fixed and ethereal beauty of
the star, yet is aware of its limitations: though bright, steadfast and splendid, it is at
the same time solitary and non-human.