Background

It is not known exactly when Keats first wrote "Bright Star." Different dates are suggested by biographers. Andrew Motion believes the poem began in October 1819. Robert Gittings claims Keats started it in April 1818, before meeting Fanny Brawne, and later revised it for her. Colvin thought it was written in the last week of February 1819, shortly after Keats and Fanny Brawne became informally engaged.

The final version of the sonnet was copied into a book containing the works of William Shakespeare, placed opposite Shakespeare's poem "A Lover's Complaint." Keats received the book in 1819 from John Hamilton Reynolds. Joseph Severn said the last version was written into the book in late September 1820 while they were on the ship Maria Crowther, traveling to Rome. Keats did not return from Rome. The book also includes one sonnet by Reynolds and one by Severn. Keats likely gave the book to Severn in January 1821, before his death in February at age 25. Severn believed the poem was Keats's final work and written specifically for him.

The poem became connected to Fanny Brawne, the woman Keats loved deeply. Gittings states the poem was given as a way to express his love for her.

The poem was officially published in 1838 in The Plymouth and Devonport Weekly Journal, 17 years after Keats's death.

The text

The sonnet is directed toward a star (possibly Polaris, around which the sky seems to rotate), expressing the poet's desire to remain as steady as the star while he is near his sleeping love. The use of star imagery is unique because Keats ignores the star's more obvious traits, instead emphasizing its unwavering and quietly observing nature. In the first known draft (recorded by Charles Brown and dated to early 1819), the poet speaks of loving until death; in the final version, death is presented as an alternative to (short-lived) love.

The poem follows the rhyme structure of the Shakespearean sonnet (ABABCDCDEFEFGG), with the usual volta, or shift in thought, happening after the octave (the first eight lines). The poem is written as one sentence, though it uses an em dash at the end of the octave to begin a new sentence in the sestet (the final six lines).

In popular culture

In Alexander Theroux's 1981 novel Darconville's Cat, the poem is mentioned by the main character while he teaches his English class.

The 2009 film Bright Star, which is about the life of poet John Keats, shows the last three years of his life and his relationship with Fanny Brawne. The movie is named Bright Star after Keats's poem, which appears several times in the film.

In the Covert Affairs episode "Speed of Life" (Season 3, Episode 4), the character Simon Fischer tells Annie Walker that the tattoo of Ursa Minor on his left shoulder blade was inspired by Keats's poem. Although Annie asks him, Simon does not explain who his "bright star" was or why he got the tattoo. This tattoo is the symbol used by Jai Wilcox to mark Simon's file in the CIA.

In issue #6 of the DC Comics event series Heroes in Crisis, written by Tom King and illustrated by Clay Mann, the character Gnarrk recites the poem on a full-page image showing him lying beside his mammoth under a clear, beautiful sky.