Excerpt from When I Have Fears by John Keats
When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain;
When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, 5
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more, 10
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love – then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
Which sentence best expresses a central theme of Keats's sonnet?
Group of answer choices
A) Death brings an end to affection and esteem.
B) Unrequited love is a worse fate than unfulfilled ambition.
C) Solitude is the best way to inspire the imagination.
D) Romantic love is a distraction from the glory of fame.