Bright Star

    When I first read John Keats' "Bright Star", I initially making a connection between the stars and love.  As I read it again, it seems as if he is comparing and contrasting the way the world is viewed.  There is great beauty to be seen from a distance, like a star would.  From above, the world would appear more calm and quaint than it actually is.  "And watching, with eternal lids apart, Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite, The moving waters at their priestlike task Of pure ablution round earth's human shores," (Keats, 792).  Though Keats creates such a serene image with this language, he also proclaims the beauty that can experienced on earth as well; this beauty is not strictly visual either.  The stability and serenity the perspective of a star offers is tempting, yet it is both unobtainable and unfulfilled.  In this poem, Keats, in a way, asks the question of whether people prefer to consistently see beauty and perfection or experience life in a more active, realistic role that is somehow much more fulfilling.

     This particular poem reminded me of a song I heard a long time ago on a t.v. show.  It takes the same message Keats sends by contrasting perfect beauty with reality.