Bright Star

In response to question 2, the speaker is obviously speaking directly to the star. This literary technique is called an apostrophe. The speaker in this case is a man (we can assume this from line 10 when he says "pillowed upon my love's ripening breast"). To be honest, I didn't completely understand the message of the poem until we discussed it in a large group. This is because I found it to be too contradictory. I could not decide whether the speaker admired the poem- such as in line 1 "Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art-" or if he did not want to be like the star - such as in line 2 "Not in lone splendor hung aloft the night,". It wasn't until we discussed the poem as a class that I accepted the idea that the speaker really meant both of these things. In my initial reading however I did note several words that I thought really contributed to the theme of the poem. The speaker uses several words which have similar meanings: "steadfast (2x), eternal, sleepless, unchangeable, forever(2x), still (2x), and so live ever" I thought all of these words/ phrases had a specific reason for being in the poem. Obviously the speaker wanted to be with his fair love forever- I just couldn't really relate this idea to star until we put it all together in class. After discussing it in a large group though I understood it to mean that the speaker basically wants to love forever or at least love for a little and then "swoon to death". This he related to the star because a star never changes which is what he wants his love to be like.