"Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art." Keats wishes he could be as constant as a star, but not as lonely: he wants to stay forever beside the person he loves. This free worksheet has the full sonnet with numbered lines, vocabulary, five discussion questions, a writing prompt and an answer key. No signup needed.
Grades 9–12 · Common Core RL.9-10.4, RL.9-10.2, RL.9-10.5 · US Letter PDF, with an answer key on the last page
What’s on the worksheet
Keats wrote the sonnet in 1819, during his love for Fanny Brawne, and later copied it into a book of Shakespeare's poems while sailing to Italy in 1820. It was published in 1838, after his death. It is a Shakespearean sonnet (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG). The first eight lines describe the star; the last six turn to the speaker's own wish.
Vocabulary
- steadfast: firm, unchanging, loyal
- splendour: brilliance, magnificence
- aloft: high up
- eternal: lasting forever
- Eremite: a hermit, someone who lives alone for religious reasons
- ablution: washing, especially as a religious ritual
- moors: open, wild, hilly land
- unchangeable: unable to change
- swoon: faint
Discussion questions
- What quality of the star does the speaker want to have?
- What parts of the star's life does he NOT want? Find the words that show this.
- What does the star watch from the sky? Name two things.
- Where does the speaker want to be "for ever" instead?
- What is the choice in the last line? What does it reveal about how he feels about love and time?
Writing prompt
Choose something in nature you admire for one quality (a mountain's strength, a river's energy). Write a 10–14 line poem wishing you shared that quality, and explaining what you would NOT want to share.
The answer key is included in the PDF, on its own page for teachers.