John Keats and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, both poets, both lived in the 1800’s, both reflect about their unfulfilled dreams and the imminence of death and their qualms about how their lives are going to end, what they are and aren’t going to accomplish, with similar beginnings, they have written very different conclusions to their works.
John Keats, Author of Shakespearean sonnet, “When I Have Fears”, expresses his feelings of fear about dying young, his fears of losing his beloved, his fears of not accomplishing anything before he dies. The whole theme of the poem is negative, as the shift doesn’t change the tone. He expresses that he is scared to die. He doesn’t want to leave his beloved. He doesn’t want to leave the world without accomplishing all of his goals. Keats
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They both know death is upon them, and don’t know how to accept that fact. Keats way of finally accepting his fate was deciding that nothing would matter when he died. Whereas Longfellow knew he had more time to finish his work, but didn’t. The main similarities between the two poems are in the openings, which envy the fleeting nature of life. Keats’ fear that he “may cease to be” counterparts Longfellow’s statement that “half of his life is gone.” The poets continue to express their fears about not having the time or not being able to achieve what they want to. Keats’ repetition of the world “before” as an anaphora highlights his concern that he may die before he is able to conquer his literary goals or employ the opportunity of “the full ripened grain” a simile he used to characterize the opportunity that he sees in his work. Longfellow also acknowledges his failure to “fulfill the aspiration if his youth” and “build some tower of song with lofty parapet” which is similar to Keats’ hope to leave behind his legacy of his words. The beginnings of the poems both portray men who fear that their time is running