Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art is the first line of a sonnet by John Keats that was first published in a Plymouth newspaper in 1838. Keats had previously inscribed it into Joseph Severn's copy of Shakespeare's Poems, opposite "A Lover's Complaint" on September 28, 1820. Keats and Severn were travelling along the Dorset coastline aboard the Maria Crowther en route to Italy and Severn would always believe that Keats had composed it specially for him. Although it was long thought to be Keats's last poem, it is now considered to have been written between February and April, 1819. {{Inote|Lancashire|Lancashire}} Colvin believed it to have been in the last week of February 1819, immediately after Keat's engagement to Fanny Brawne.

Related Topics:
Sonnet - John Keats - Plymouth - Newspaper - 1838 - Joseph Severn - A Lover's Complaint - September 28 - 1820 - Italy - Poem - February - April - 1819 - Fanny Brawne

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Addressed to a star the verse expresses the poet's wish to be as constant as the star while he presses against his sleeping love. In the first recorded draft (copied by Charles Brown and dated to early 1819) the poet loves unto death; by the final version death is an alternative to love.

Related Topics:
Love - Charles Brown - Death

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