John Keats When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be

A sonnet is a type of poetry divided into fourteen lines. The sonnet became widely popular during the Italian Renaissance. The original creator of the sonnet is unknown, but Francesco Petrarch is credited for the spread of the poem. The topics of most sonnets were initially idealized love and women’s beauty, however, certain authors, like William Shakespeare often had writing that was varied and unpredictable. The Petrarchan sonnet is divided into an octave and a sestet, meaning a section of eight and a section of six lines. There are other English sonnets, being the Spenserian and the Shakespearean sonnet, which are divided into three quatrains and a couplet, The sonnet is one of the most common types of poetry among literacy,and has lived along for quite a long time (Laura Woolfolk, class lecture). John Keats’s sonnet, “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be,” describes his inner fears and his desires. Keats writes, “When I have fears that I may cease to be/ Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain/ Before high-pilèd books, in charactery/

Another artist who has desires to thrive before death is Curtis Jackson. In his song “Many Men,” he shares his dismay of those who want to harm him, “I’m just tryna be who I’m destined to be, but . . . tryna take my life away” (Jackson, Curtis James, et al. “Many Men.” Universal Music Publishing 2003. Google. April 30, 2018). Jackson also writes, “I’m the diamond in the dirt, that ain't been found. I'm the underground king and I ain't been crowned,” stating that he knows he has so much to live for, and wants the world to see that before it’s too late. He, as well as Keats, has accepted his fate and is coming to face that this may be his time to expire even though he yearns to become more significant and share more with the world, “many men, wish death 'pon me. Lord I don't cry no more, don't look to the sky no more” (Jackson, Many