Literary Analysis of John Keats’ Sonnet 'On Fame'

John Keats sonnet written in April of 1819, titled ‘On Fame’, on first reading appears to be a love poem. Upon closer reading, it becomes clear that Keats is using women as a simile for the nature of fame, by contrasting the two against each other. Keats uses phrases such as ‘like a wayward girl’ and ‘very gipsey is she’ to show the similarities between courting women and trying overly hard to obtain fame. Another possible reasoning for Keats creating a simile between fame and women is that he was criticizing men’s obsession with the glitz and glamour of fame, for wanting to be known and admired.

Upon analysis, we can see Keats used the form of a Shakespearean sonnet for ‘On Fame’ that he wrote using three quatrains, which followed the rhyming pattern of ABAB, CDCD and EFEF. Which he then followed by a couplet to finish the sonnet, which we know has the rhyming pattern of ‘gg’. In conjunction with following the standard Shakespearean sonnet format, the rhythm or metre for Keats’ sonnet was the nature of an iambic pentameter which as we know has ten syllables per line that break up into five feet, with the pattern of unstressed then stressed syllables.

In ‘On Fame’ the main underlying theme seems to be man’s omniscient need to be noticed and admired, even though this is seen as foolhardy and distasteful by many. With Keats going as far as to state that fame ‘will not speak to those, who have not learnt to be content without her’. This idea is further supported by the lines ‘ye lovesick bards’ and ‘ye artists lovelorn’ which suggests that many artists were so taken with the idea of becoming famous for their work, that their greed and longing was plain to see and was thus the reason that they had not attained notoriety for their work. A particularly interesting idea is that Keats uses the Shakespearean sonnet format to write about fame, in which he attempts to shame fellow romantic poets, and yet continues to write poetry in the aforementioned try hard format. The sly jabs in which Keats calls his peers ‘lovelorn, madmen’ suggests that perhaps he was fed up with his fellow artists obsessing over how, when and what they could do to become famous. Implying that if they were true artists they would simply be content with the work that they have produced and would sit back and let fame choose them.

Through some background research it can be understood that ‘sister-in-law to jealous Potiphar’ does not actually refer to Potiphar’s wife’s sister. Though Keats appears to use this as a metaphor and instead likens fame to Potiphar’s wife’s attempt to seduce another man, and when that fails, she accuses him of rape and has Potiphar throw him in jail. We understood this as meaning that the allure of fame is seductive though it can quickly change and cause terrible things to happen, and thus the allure of fame is similar to deceit of Potiphar’s wife, making them sisters-in-law. This is further supported by Keats referring to fame is if ‘she is a gipsey’. Gypsies are a nomadic people who travel around for a variety of reasons, but in this context is can be taken to mean that Keats used this to symbolise the ever fleeting nature of fame, always moving to the next person, with whomever is currently famous being left behind for someone better. Keats also uses the term ‘Nilus born’ to possibly create a recurring motif for the ever-changing nature of fame, alongside the ‘gipsey’, with Nilus being the god of the Nile River. In the sense of being ever changing it is clearly not referring to the path of the river, which may change slowly, but perhaps to the more subtle parts that would change. Such as the currents of the water, the wildlife in the river, etc. Therefore Keats may use the term ‘Nilus born’ to suggest that while fame will almost certainly be there and appear the same, the intricacies and inner nature of fame would never be the same.

In conclusion, Keats uses a range of figurative and literal devices in his sonnet ‘On Fame’. He makes use of a simile in the first line, in which he compares fame to a woman. With that first simile, Keats not only links fame to a woman, but he has linked it to a ‘wayward girl’, giving the audience the impression that she is difficult to control or obtain and that fame is also difficult to acquire. From this statement, Keats then moves on to criticise his fellow artists for their obsession with this ‘wayward girl’ and eloquently states ‘if she likes it, she will follow you’ in reference to how fame chooses the artist, not the other way around.