Alone and palely loitering

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art -

Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,

And watching, with eternal lids apart,

Like Nature's patient sleepless Eremite

The moving waters at their priest-like task

Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,

Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask

Of snow upon the mountains and the moors -

No - yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,

Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast,

To feel forever its soft fall and swell,

Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,

And so live ever - or else swoon to death.

John Keats

John Keats by William Hilton

John Keats was an English Romantic poet,

his reputation grew after his death and by the end

of the 19th century he had become one of the

most beloved of all English poets.

Isabella Jones

It is thought that the first version of Bright Star might have been

originally written for Isabella jones

with whom he was romantically involved in 1817.

Letters suggest he first met Frances (Fanny) Brawne in 1818

but their romance was overshadowed

by Keats' ill health.

Fanny Brawne

"I have two luxuries to brood over" he wrote to her

"your loveliness and the hour of my death"

He left England for Rome as tuberculosis took hold in 1820

knowing he would never see Fanny again.

He died five months later.

Keats home

Wentworth Place

now the Keats Museum

Keats grave in Rome

Keats died in 1821 and was buried in Rome.
Fanny stayed in mourning for six years
after which she married and had three children.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever

Its loveliness increases, it will never

Pass into nothingness, but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams,

and earth,

and quiet breathing.

I loved this film

Jane Campion has captured the Georgian feel perfectly

beautiful cinematography

bluebell woods

fields of daffodils

wild gardens

the austerity of the house interiors

beautiful fashions

The film has such an intensity of feeling and passion

I almost held my breath all the way through

and

to hear his poetry spoken aloud gives it such profound meaning.

Be still my beating heart.