Sonnet: When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be

John Keats 1795 (Moorgate) – 1821 (Rome)



When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charactry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love; -- then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 11, 2023

35 sec read
279

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABCBDEDECCCCFF
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 593
Words 114
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

John Keats

John Keats was an English Romantic poet. more…

All John Keats poems | John Keats Books

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