Compare And Contrast When I Have Fears And Mezzo Cammin

Death is inevitable. With the impending ending comes a phase of self reflection and the questioning of past actions, or lack thereof. In both poems, “When I Have Fears” and “Mezzo Cammin,” the speakers recount the passage of their time, puzzled at how they had let opportunity slip away from their grasp. Yet it is in their outlooks on how to death with this revelation that differ. Keats offers a mournful and despondent outlook on the rest of his days, fearing that he has already carved out a meaningless existence, and ready to give up; whereas Keats presents an individual who has lost a lot due to his circumstances, but still perseveres and keeps his ground, choosing to believe in a brighter future in the coming of a new season. Though both poems are riddled with simple and intelligible
diction, the poems take on different tones through few illusive diction choices.
In regards to “When I Have Fears,” there seems to be a more positive aura. As the speaker contemplates his demise, he ponders all he had missed in the world, like never living to touch the “Huge cloudy symbols of romance” as he looks up into the infinite sky. He describes the love as “unreflecting”, leading into the idea that he has felt love, but it has never been reciprocated, hence it is described as a “faery power”, mythical and magical in theory, but ultimately made up and not real. In the last couplets of the poem, he releases all of his thoughts of “love and fame,” letting them sink down into nothingness; forever standing alone in the world. When looking at “Mezzo Cammin,” it is undeniable that the speaker also wonders of death, but it is in the speaker’s attitude that the two poems contrast. Suddenly,
all of the “aspirations of my (his) youth” are flashing in his mind, reminding him of all that he didn’t accomplish. Imagery of the speakers youth is described through the thoughts of “smoking roofs,” “a city in the twilight,” and “gleaming lights”, showing his past- one he now realizes was beautiful and full of life. It is further in the poem, in the second to last stanza, the speaker seems to change his attitude, creating the contrast between the two poems. The speaker suddenly hears “the autumnal blast”, a sound that overshadows the noise of death as it thunders in the distance. He has realized his wrong choices in the past, and sees an opportunity to better himself. With this new season comes a new beginning for the speaker. Looking further in both of the poems, they are both written in iambic pentameter. “When I Have Fears” is written with alternating rhyming pairs, the lines progressing in an a/b, a/b, c/d order, with two rhyming couplets set as the last two lines, conforming to the characteristics of a standard sonnet. As the poem sticks to the strict rules of a shakespearean sonnet, the structure also reflects the speaker's attitude as he remains stuck in his ways, refusing to try and change in order to try new things in his mundane life. And while “Mezzo Cammin” also follows this pattern, defining itself with the structure of a sonnet as well, the poem itself strays from the standard structure, following the two couplets with a new line entirely. This deviation from the conventional structure displays the speakers sort of rebirth. His desire to go past his ordinary life, and reach further into every single one of the opportunities life could possibly bring forth.