Zusammenfassung der Ressource
To My Brothers (13)
- A sonnet for his brother Tom's birthday;
Keats relays how he wants a calm life with
his brothers - notes the fragility of life and
how death can occur at any point
- Petrarchan Sonnet
- Love
- 'busy flames play... faint cracklings o'er our
silence creep like whispers of the household
gods that keep a gentle empire o'er fraternal souls'
- Fire and warmth are comforting, symbolic of the
fraternal love between the siblings. Alternatively
fire can also be a destructive force which may be
somewhat of an underlying link to mortality and the
fragility of human life - combined with 'play' creates
a lighthearted image of frivolity and friendship
- Keats is engaging the
senses in the first half of
the sonnet (prior to the
volta) - 'crackling',
'silence', 'whispers' etc...
- 'flames', 'cracklings',
'whispers' they are
working together to
create an atmosphere
almost like a system - ' a
gentle empire'
- Household Gods is a
protective force - Keats
maybe highlighting the
bond of family by
elevating the importance
to a higher level
- Keats acknowledges the contrast of
character between himself and Tom -
there is a sense of admiration in the
way that Tom conducts himself
- 'I search around the poles, Your eyes are fixed, as in poetic sleep'
- Mortality
- Contextually: The family have
experienced a lot of loss and suffering
(death of both parents); and, Keats's time
as a doctor has likely reinforced his
awareness of human fragility
- At the VOLTA (The last 6
lines), the tone of the
poem switches and
becomes almost
appreciative - a contrast
to the earlier lines, more
of a sense of gratitude
for their good fortune
- 'I rejoice that thus is passes smoothly, quietly'
- 'smoothly' & 'quietly' implies that
life has previously been hectic or
disruptive, Keats wants peace for
his younger brothers
- Keats directs
the poem to
Tom for the
first time
- Would work well with O! Soltude