In the poem, “When i have fears” by John Keats, what are the 5-8th lines about?
In John Keats poem, "When I have fears," I do not understand the second quartet.
"When i behold, upon the night’s starred 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;"
–I think it has something to do with love. Please help me if you understand it. The rest of the poem I understand.
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Tagged with: cloudy symbols • high romance • john keats • john keats poem • love • magic hand • quot • second quartet • starred face • when i have fears • When I Have Fears By John Keats
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he doesnt think that he will have the chance to find lasting love(high romance)
Keats was dying with "consumption", the 19th century word for tuberculosis. He had nursed his brother and watched him die with the disease so he knew what the symptoms were.
He was desperately in love with Fanny Brawne. He knew that even if she responded to his passion that there could be no lasting relationship and that the infection would spread to her. Even chance was against him. He was a lovely person, held in high regard by everyone who knew him and by all who love his poems.
When I read those lines I think of the lines of Shakespeare: "in such a night as this,
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees
And they did make no noise, in such a night
Troilus methinks mounted the Troyan walls
And sigh’d his soul toward the Grecian tents,
Where Cressid lay that night."
it means he can’t get a grip on true love, because it’s beyond his reach, that he can only see it before him but not touch it.