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Essay Samples Prompt: The speaker of When I Have Fears sometimes feels that love and fame are nothingness. Based on both sonnets, what values did Keats consider most important in life? Answer this question, supporting your points with evidence from the poems. Keats Sonnets Quiz

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Sample 1 Keats displays his values vividly in his sonnets. It is clear that he has a strong appreciation for knowledge, adventure, and love. Knowledge is something Keats believes he posses while adventure and love are experiences that he feels he will miss out on after death. On First Looking into Chapmans Homer and When I Have Fears allow the reader to see his passion for these values. The love of knowledge is most evident in the sonnet On First Looking into Chapmans

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Homer. The entire poem discusses the enlightenment that arrives with his reading. Keats relates himself to an adventurer, Cortez, and a watcher of the skies to express the depth of his amazement. This passion is seen also in When I Have Fears because he speaks of High-piled books. He speaks of his writing and his brain that is overflowing with words. Adventure is a value seen in both sonnets as well. It is noticeable when he relates knowledge to Cortezs journeys. More noticeably though it is mentioned in When I Have Fears. Keats worries

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about never living a life of high romance. He is referencing his lack of time for grand quests. Love is clearly valued by the poet. In When I Have Fears he pines for the woman who he describes as a fair creature. His concern is not only that he will not see her anymore, but also that he will never feel the power of love. By mentioning fame, Keats even reveals a desire to be publicly adored.

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Think, Plan, Write Read prompt carefully address all parts! Thesis statement create a position; argument Make Claim Support Claim quote and/or paraphrase Tie support to claim and argument! Repeat, repeat, Tie up! No you; edit I

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Sample 2 Even though Keats tries to reason love and fame into nothingness, he still places them very high among his values. For one thing, how can he successfully think them into nothingness, at least for very long? Evidence for this is my own knowledge of life and my personal desires, plus the fact that When I Have Fears is full of references to Keatss desire for poetic fame. Additionally, he chooses to mention those two

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values love and fame precisely because they are the ones he finds hardest to think away. In fact the images of the teeming brain and the granary high-piled with metaphorical works of literature show that he has not succeeded in putting those thoughts away for even the time needed to write the sonnet. Supporting this view are the images in On First Looking into Chapmans Homer, where it is clear that poetic beauty is his highest value. So love of poetry and of a beloved, plus the fame that comes with the highest achievement of poetic beauty, are his supreme values.