Both poems open in a similar manner, realizing the inevitability of death. Keats fears that he “may cease to be” similarity Longfellow realizes that half his “life is gone”. But after the openings, both poems break off into the two very different perspectives of death. …show more content…
He expresses this hope through the repetition of the word “Before” to express a desire to keep living. He later reflects this fear through the simile “rich garners the full ripened grain”. This statement allows the reader to understand that he does not feel succeeded at this point, and is wishing for a chance to achieve more and ripen as a person. But at the same time these desperate dreams for romance and writing are crushed by the inevitability that these events may never happen causing him to embody a sense helplessness and isolation within the world. If he were to die today he would sink in “nothingness” leaving his life worthless and