Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night,
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature’s patient sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth’s human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors—
No—yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death.
There are quite a few religious references, I looked up what Eremite was and it’s a a hermit or recluse, esp. one under a religious vow. Ablution is a cleansing with water or other liquid, esp. as a religious ritual, while the reference to the stars also made me think of the heavens. Another note of importance is the rebirth imagery, how the waters cleanse the shores (reminds me of when you go to a beach in the morning when all the old footprints have been washed/smoothed away) and also the “new soft fallen mask/ Of snow upon the mountains and the moors,” which also brings the same type of picture to mind (perfectly untouched Fresh snow in the morning).
There was also a lot of feminine imagery used, from the mountains with softly falling snow to the “fair love’s ripening breast,” which seems to be a mirror image of the mountains. Perhaps Keats wishes he could live forever at such peace, harmony, and continuity with his lover. Just as how the stars forever observe Nature and its beauty, Keats yearns to remain unmoving in this moment with his love, in hope that the moment will last forever.
