The poet John Keats stands out among other poets. His young age contrasts with his deep poetry. His melancholy poems reflect many tragic events that happened in his life. Some of his works, for example, the poem “When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be”, are inspired by the largest tragedy of his life, incurable disease, that he faces. This disease, called tuberculosis, was the cause of death of his mother, when he was very young. Keats also lost his father in a tragic accident, when he was even younger, 8 years old. “The hasty remarriage of his mother was brief, and when it collapsed Frances disappeared in a cloud of scandalous rumors, leaving her children in the care of their grandmother. When she came back home, a few years later, it was to die. John nursed her through the final stages of consumption, as he was to do with his youngest brother, Tom, in 1818” (Kirsch 92-94). Consequently, his poems are written through the view of his own life, full of tragedy and loss. They are full of emotional resonance. They say to the reader that Keats enjoyed life, but was aware of life's difficulty and brevity. In the poem “When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be” through imagery, style, and symbolism Keats conveys the theme of his own death.
One of the most important tools that Keats uses to convey the theme of his own death in the poem is imagery. This poem is literally packed with images to show the reader why Keats has the “fears” and what do they mean. The author calls his mind the “teeming brain”, because it is full of a great number of thoughts, which are alive and want out. He says that his pen even did not glean his “teeming brain” yet, that's how many thoughts he needs to let out. He would have “high piled books, in charact’ry”, if all these ideas, thoughts, and concepts of his did have a chance to find their place on paper (Keats 3). “The word “charact’ry” is of particular interest here: Keats pays tribute to Shakespeare, whose sonnet stanza he also...