Midterm

Klara Sulce

            Poets always have different opinions and outlooks on life, therefore some poems are depressing and not as enjoyable. Others have an overload of happiness expressed in their lines, but it all depends on the author who wrote them. William Blake and John Keats poems were very contrasting, but had a few similarities.  Keat’s poem, “Bright Star” and “The Lamb” by William Blake differentiate in terms of language and diction, but the overall theme of the poems is quite similar.

As a poet, Blake would create happiness in his Innocent poems and in his Experience poems, more cruel lines were found. Dissimilarly, Keats' poems focused more on depression, anger and suicidal considerations. “The Lamb” opens with a child asking the lamb about its origins. Questions such as how it came into being, how it acquired its particular manner of feeding, its “clothing” of wool, its “tender voice.” were brought up to the child’s attention. Although the poem is a child’s song, it is written in the form of question and answer. A person is looking for guidance and answers in an object or rather an animal that can not necessarily answer them.

“Bright Star” by John Keats, expresses the poet’s desire to be like a star. In the poem the tone is melancholic whereas the theme is the desire to live in an unchanging state. Keats uses rhyme and literary techniques to reveal these ideas. This poem is not as suitable for children as opposed to Blake’s poem. Both of the speakers in “Bright Star” and “The Lamb” become impatient for responses and their questions are not answered by those they seek replies from.

Hence, the theme of both “Bright Star” and “The Lamb” has to deal with accepting the world for what is.  Both speakers are looking for answers in the wrong places and in wrong people or objects, for it is impossible for the star and the lamb to reply to the child or the speaker in “Bright Star”.  It is up to the speaker to come up with the answers they hope to find and towards the end of the poem, they are both obligated to answer their own questions.