When I have fears that I may Cease to be

I think that the first step before reading a poem is looking at the title. As part of my reading process I did it. So, I immediately realized that the author was pessimistic about his life and terrified of something.

According to what we have seen in this course, Romantic authors put emphasis on nature in every sense. That is why we, as human beings are included in a part of this nature. The poem read is based on fears, doubts and wishes and it deals with the value of nature and the way it influences and inspires our way of seeing things.

My question is why the author is so scared of passing away? In the poem “When I Have Fears that I may Cease to be”, written by John Keats the feeling of fear has an explicit meaning. It mainly has to do with death. The author is afraid of dying because he wants to be remembered forever.

If we really want to achieve something, we must be able to overcome fear in order to become stronger! Neither the scariest idea can make us their slave…

Kubla Khan by Coleridge

“Poetry is an art…of representing, in words, external nature and human thoughts and affections, both relatively to human affections, by the production of as much immediate pleasure in parts, as is compatible with the largest sum of pleasure in the whole”.


I chose this quotation because if poetry is an art, it implies that its main objective is to deal with author’s thought affections and way of seeing, for provoking a reader’s reaction through words. All of these previous concepts like affection and nature will lead to author’s pleasure. You may ask why pleasure? And the answer is because it is really rewarding to be able to express yourself in relation to what you are feeling.
According to the poem “Kubla Khan” written by Coleridge, it is evident the existing connection between nature and human thoughts. For distinguishing that link we need to understand that any kind of civilization is surrounded by an atmosphere which contributes to our way of feeling, thinking and acting. I think it is important to learn to see what is beyond reason. So, this means imagination is one of the paths to find pleasure.

The little black boy

I enjoy reading the poem because author’s perception about love is so evident that there are not confusions.
According to my interpretation of “The little black boy”, there are many concepts that deal with the idea of being the same. I think the main message is represented through some elements like nature, natural love, and race. In Blake's poem equality for all men is the key message that I mentioned before.
Through the relationship between the mother and the boy, we can see the best examplein which there is a supreme love that goes beyond race and beyond differences.
In addition, the author includes in his work the idea of God as an instrument of inspiration, which is considered intangible in relation to eternity.
The poem read can be useful for our future practice, because it deals with the idea of discrimination. So, it can be used as an example of this issue in order to show to our students that society has dealt with it over time.