could someone please explain the poem " When I Have Fears That I Might Cease to Be" by John Keats?

Question

WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high pil`d 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.

Answer 1

He is very scared of dying before he lives out his dream and potential as a poet. Even though he has written beautiful things up until this point he has not gotten much credit and he is afraid he won't live much longer. His life had been full of tragedy and death (you can find that on Wikipedia even), and he was very negative at the time of writing this. His one true love Fanny he is never to marry and he is bitter over this as well.

Answer 2

I can't explain this poem but I do know he was a love sick poet. I went to his house in Hampstead London one time and learned a little about the guy. He was very short, like 4'10." His wife/girlfriend was super short too and I think they both died of Tuberculosis at a young age. I had to duck way down through all the door ways. He also had some tree in the back yard that he wrote a lot of love poems about. If you go the super lovey dovey route, your probably going the right way. That was the impression I got from the guy's home and stuff. He was pretty famous for his undying love for his wife/girlfriend, or whatever she was.

Answer 3

hmmm i did this back in english 101, isn't he contemplating death? he's like pondering what it would be like to leave the world, the "fair creature" i guess is his lover, reflects on the importance of love. look for imagery, pay close attention. also try to contextualize... know what poets general form is of the particular period it was written in. read a keats bio and you might glean some more from it.