Submit your précis. It needs to follow pattern of the Precis Outline.
Single spaced, a blank line between each of the five paragraphs. Include a title and proper MWL Works Cited entry.
Precis guidelines below
(INTRO PARAGRAPH: This paragraph can be shorter than the body paragraphs.
State the poem title and author and state what you’re doing:)
An analysis of “When I have fears that I may cease to be” by English poet, John Keats, reveals important insights into the mind and heart of the poet, the skill of the poet, and insights into how the transient nature of life and how it can weigh upon our souls.
(FIRST BODY PARAGRAPH: Here you cover the first point of your thesis with statements like:)
This well-known poem allows us to look deeply into the mind and heart of Keats. It is important to remember that when he wrote this poem, he knew he was dying of tuberculosis. According to his biography published in the Academy of Poets, Keats had lost his mother and his brother to this terrible disease (2017). Thus the opening line, “When I have fears that I may cease to be,” is a line written by a man who watched those he loved die.
(I would then write about his fiancé, Fanny Brawne, who he dearly loved but was not able to marry, thus the line, “When I look upon thee, fair creature of an hour . . .put line numbers with each quoted part of the poem)
(SECOND BODY PARAGRAPH: Write about the skill of the poet. This poem is written in blank verse and perfect iambic pentameter.)
(THIRD BODY PARAGRAPH: Write about his reflection on the transient nature of life using lines like “I stand on the wide shore of this world and think . . .put line number with each quoted line)
(CONCLUDING PARAGRAPH: Conclusion and summary)
Having read Keats’ poetry for many years, I keep returning to this one. I would argue that this poem is the most biographical of his poetry. Being a writer myself, this poem, hanging on the wall of my office and on the walls of my heart, remind me that I too have important things to “glean from my mind” (line number).