English IV

 

John Keats

 "When I Have Fears that I May Cease to Be"

WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high piled books, in charact'ry,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,	5
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And feel that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour!
That I shall never look upon thee more,	10
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;—then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,
Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

 

The poet uses the metaphor in lines 11 and 12 to show that the speaker views love as

a.       Something magical

b.      Something imaginative

c.       Something cherished

d.      Something natural

In what way does the couplet resolve the poet's feelings towards his own death?

a.       He fears that he will die before his love dies

b.      He fears that he will die by drowning

c.       He fears that he will die before his dreams are fulfilled

d.      He fears he will die alone