"Form"al Poetry (Question 17)

Before I begin to delve into the form of Keats' "Bright Star," I should state that I discovered most of the information from a site by Nelson Miller of the Cayuse Press Writers Exchange Board.

Anyway, Keats' poem is a rather typical example of an English (or Shakespearean) sonnet. All sonnets consist of fourteen lines, divided into an octet which presents one idea and a sestet which presents a different, often contrasting, idea. Really, the aspect of the Keats' poem which identifies it as English is its rhyme pattern. Keats' poem follows the English pattern of a b a b c d c d e f e f g g, meaning it can be subdivided into three quatrains with alternating lines rhyming and a final couplet. In Keats' poem, the first quatrain serves the purpose of describing the "bright star" (1) and its position and purpose in the sky. He describes the star as "steadfast" (1) in the sky, alone in "splendor" (2), simply "watching" (3). The second quatrain describes what the star observes, which also indicates the star's loneliness and distance from the beauty far below. Together, this octet depicts the aspects of the star which Keats does not desire to have: he does not want to be alone and unattached. In the sestet following the octet, Keats performs a turn and describes the aspect of the star which he does desire: Keats wishes to "feel forever [the] soft fall and swell" (11) of his lover, to stay "steadfast" with his love. Keats closes his statement of desire with a final couplet that states he wants to either "live ever" with his lover or else die at the peak of his love-to "swoon to death" (14). Overall, the division of the sonnet into the octet and sestet serves as a well-established boundary between what Keats desires and what he does not.