When I have Fears That I May Cease to Be

BYJOHN KEATS

When I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,

Before high-pild books, in charactery,

Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;

When I behold, upon the nights starred face,

Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

And think that I may never live to trace

Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,

That I shall never look upon thee more,

Never have relish in the faery power

Of unreflecting lovethen on the shore

Of the wide world I stand alone, and think

Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

John Keats(/kits/; 31 October 1795 23 February 1821) was anEnglishRomanticpoet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets along withLord ByronandPercy Bysshe Shelley, despite his work having been in publication for only four years before his death.

Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his life, his reputation grew after his death, so that by the end of the 19th century, he had become one of the most beloved of allEnglish poets. He had a significant influence on a diverse range of poets and writers.Jorge Luis Borgesstated that his first encounter with Keats was the most significant literary experience of his life

The poetry of Keats is characterised by sensual imagery, most notably in the series ofodes. Today his poems and letters are some of the most popular and most analysed in English literature.