Celestial Variability and Keats's ‘Bright star’

Early in his career the astronomer William Herschel argued that the appearance of ‘so many changes among the stars’ – stars materialising out of nowhere and stars gradually vanishing, stars fluctuating in brightness and stars changing position – ‘should cause a strong suspicion that most probably ev...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inRomanticism (Edinburgh) Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 253 - 266
Main Author Hasted, Meegan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published UK Edinburgh University Press 01.10.2023
Subjects
Literary Studies
Bright star
sonnets
love letters
Fanny Brawne
Keats
astronomy
variability
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Early in his career the astronomer William Herschel argued that the appearance of ‘so many changes among the stars’ – stars materialising out of nowhere and stars gradually vanishing, stars fluctuating in brightness and stars changing position – ‘should cause a strong suspicion that most probably every star in the heaven is more or less in motion’. Given his knowledge of modern astronomy, Keats's plea to be as ‘stedfast’ as the bright star might be considered deliberately retrograde: the aesthetic privileging of an ideal by a sky-gazing lover indifferent to empirical science. This essay argues, on the contrary, that the ‘Bright star’ sonnet seizes upon a figurative paradox produced in a period of epistemological transition. The indeterminacy of the bright star image introduces an affective dimension to the sonnet more in keeping with its Petrarchan roots and captures an essential quality of even steadfast lovers: changeability.
ISSN:1354-991X
1750-0192
DOI:10.3366/rom.2023.0611