In both John Keats’ Bright Star and Robert Frost’s Choose Something Like a Star, the authors center their poems on star; however, through theme and style, they lack resemblance. In fact, Frost’s poem includes an illusion from Keats’ poem, which does bring a common theme into each of the works. Although both of the poems have a central subject of a star, they can be compared and contrasted through their themes and structures. As a sonnet, Bright Star consists and is rigidly structured upon an iambic pentameter. The tone for this work is sorrowful as he commends his lady’s magnificence and reveals his faithful, unwavering, or “steadfast” love for her. The sonnet begins with an apostrophe to the star, drawing attention to his plea for her hand.
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To start, the structure of his poem is slightly more free-versed with 25 lines, each with eight syllables each. The poem has a tone considered to be colloquial and contains a varied rhyme scheme. Although Frost also inspires to be steadfast like the star, his aspirations are based on morals or political thought in his case, instead of love. Like Keats, he starts with an apostrophe; however, he adds “(the fairest one in sight)” lightheartedly, amusingly alluding to the children’s tale of wishing on a star. Also, from this, we can infer that he wants a wish from this particular star. He nicknames the star “your loftiness,” humorously playing on the phrase “your highness,” establishing a higher moral status than the rest of us. The author, writing as all men, presents the star “some obscurity”, drawing some aspects from the hermit and watching the earth, in his “cloud.” As Frost explains, the “dark is what brings out your light,” which shows us that the star represents steadfastness whenever a “dark” or evil event is occurring on earth. Frost does not want to enable the star to escape with saying nothing; he wants us to receive some advice from the star. He then pleads him to say something we can remember and repeat, something catchy in order to live steadfastly like it does. On line 9, when he emphasizes “Say something!," he interrupts the flow, accentuating his desperation and distress to his request. The star simply replies, “I burn,” not nearly satisfying the narrator. Frost demands him to include scientific details in terms of “Fahrenheit” and “Centigrade”. He then speaks of “Fahrenheit” and “Centigrade” as languages humans deal with and understand. He even capitalizes Language to validate its matter-of-factness. Unfortunately, he recounts that his request was not much of any help. On line 18, Frost shifts his focus from the star to Keats’ poem, effectively building an
To start, the structure of his poem is slightly more free-versed with 25 lines, each with eight syllables each. The poem has a tone considered to be colloquial and contains a varied rhyme scheme. Although Frost also inspires to be steadfast like the star, his aspirations are based on morals or political thought in his case, instead of love. Like Keats, he starts with an apostrophe; however, he adds “(the fairest one in sight)” lightheartedly, amusingly alluding to the children’s tale of wishing on a star. Also, from this, we can infer that he wants a wish from this particular star. He nicknames the star “your loftiness,” humorously playing on the phrase “your highness,” establishing a higher moral status than the rest of us. The author, writing as all men, presents the star “some obscurity”, drawing some aspects from the hermit and watching the earth, in his “cloud.” As Frost explains, the “dark is what brings out your light,” which shows us that the star represents steadfastness whenever a “dark” or evil event is occurring on earth. Frost does not want to enable the star to escape with saying nothing; he wants us to receive some advice from the star. He then pleads him to say something we can remember and repeat, something catchy in order to live steadfastly like it does. On line 9, when he emphasizes “Say something!," he interrupts the flow, accentuating his desperation and distress to his request. The star simply replies, “I burn,” not nearly satisfying the narrator. Frost demands him to include scientific details in terms of “Fahrenheit” and “Centigrade”. He then speaks of “Fahrenheit” and “Centigrade” as languages humans deal with and understand. He even capitalizes Language to validate its matter-of-factness. Unfortunately, he recounts that his request was not much of any help. On line 18, Frost shifts his focus from the star to Keats’ poem, effectively building an