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  • Essay / Literary analysis of the sonnet “On Fame” by John Keats

    The sonnet by John Keats written in April 1819, entitled “On Fame”, appears at first reading to be a love poem. On closer reading, it becomes clear that Keats is using women as a simile for the nature of fame, pitting them against each other. Keats uses phrases such as "like a wayward girl" and "she is very gypsy" to show the similarities between wooing women and trying too hard to obtain fame. Another possible reason why Keats creates a comparison between fame and women is that he was criticizing men's obsession with the glitz and glamor of fame, their desire to be known and admired. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay After analysis, we can see that Keats used the form of a Shakespearean sonnet for "On Fame", which he wrote using three quatrains, which followed the rhyme pattern of ABAB, CDCD and EFEF. Which he then followed with a verse to end the sonnet, which we know has the “gg” rhyme pattern. As well as following the standard format of the Shakespearean sonnet, the rhythm or meter of Keats's sonnet was in the nature of iambic pentameter which, as we know, has ten syllables per line which divide into five feet, with a pattern of unstressed then stressed syllables. In "On Fame", the main underlying theme seems to be man's omniscient need to be noticed and admired, even if this is considered reckless and distasteful by many. Keats went so far as to declare that fame “will not speak to those who have not learned to be content with it”. This idea is further supported by the lines "you loving bards" and "you loving artists" which suggest that many artists were so fascinated with the idea of ​​becoming famous for their work, that their greed and desire was evident and were therefore the reason. reason why they had not achieved notoriety for their work. One particularly interesting idea is that Keats uses the Shakespearean sonnet format to write about fame, in which he attempts to shame his fellow Romantic poets, while continuing to write poetry in the aforementioned essay format. The snide jabs in which Keats calls his peers "madly in love" suggest that he may have had enough of his fellow artists obsessing over how, when, and what they could do to become famous. Implying that if they were real artists, they would just settle for the work they produced and sit back and let fame choose them. Through some background research, we can understand that "the sister-in-law of the jealous Potiphar" is not actually referring to the sister of Potiphar's wife. Although Keats seems to be using this as a metaphor and instead compares fame to Potiphar's wife's attempt to seduce another man, and when that fails, she accuses him of rape and asks Potiphar to throw him in prison. We have understood this to mean that the lure of fame is seductive although it can quickly change and cause terrible things to happen, and so the lure of fame is similar to the deception of Potiphar's wife, making they are sisters-in-law. This is further supported by Keats referring to the celebrity if "she is a gypsy." Gypsies are a nomadic people who travel for a variety of reasons, but in this context it may mean that Keats used this to symbolize the ever-fleeting nature of fame, always moving on to the next person, along with the currently famous person. left for someone better. Keats also uses the.