The Meaning of Immortality in a Transient World in the Poem "brightstar"

Romantic poet John Keats, focused on the necessity of enjoying every moment with intense passion as life was too short to sit idle. His poetry was filled by the desire to achieve beauty and love, but it often concluded with the pains and sorrows caused by their fleeting nature. Another great attribute of Keats as Romantic poet was his love of nature and his necessity to incorporate it in all his work. The manner that Keats arranged his poetry with subtle imagery and deep emotion produced some of the most beautiful work that has transcended the test of time. In the poem "Brightstar," Keats questions his desire for the immortality of nature against a love that only exists in a world of transience.

The poem starts by introducing the object of his admiration, the immortal star.

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art

Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night!

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite, (ll. 1-4)

The first thing that the reader notices is the fact that the speaker is talking to a star. This type of personification makes the start of the poem more intimate. It almost sounds like the speaker is wooing the star as it is his lover. A star's persona is of a celestial nature, something so beautiful but yet unreachable, which insinuates that any attributes that it possesses may be unattainable as well. The first description of the star is its "steadfastness" and how much the speaker would like to posses this quality, but this admiration comes with certain caveats. The speaker goes on to list the qualities attached to this "steadfastness" he does not wish to emulate. The use of phrases like "lone splendour," "eternal," and "Eremite" give the impression that in the star's immortal quality lies loneliness. The star is seen as a being that watches life passing by, rather than actually enjoying it. The speaker's fears of being alone are transmitted in these few lines. The comparison of the star to the Eremite truly conveys this feeling. The perception of living alone in the desert is cleverly used as metaphor to living an emotional desolate life. Furthermore, as a religious figure, the Eremite is a representation of celibacy which emphasizes the emotional disconnect of the star to the living world.

Keats continues his torn admiration of immortality by comparing it to "The moving waters at their priestlike task/Of pure ablution round the earth's human shores," (ll 5-6). These lines demonstrate Keats's love of nature transcends to a spiritual realm. The metaphor he uses for the "moving waters" flowing in an almost religious nature provides the reader with further proof of the spiritual