"Star" Counterparts

Shelley's "Adonais" is an elegy for Keats in which he memorializes the artist, elevating Keats by portraying him as both sensible and sensitive. While reading the poem, I drew a comparison between "Adonais" and William Blake's "Milton: A Poem." Penned within 20 years of each other, these pieces indubitably foster a likeness. In "Milton," Blake's hero John Milton returns from heaven and unites with Blake to explore the relationship between living writers and their predecessors. This is a rather graphic and corporal portrayal of the struggle between bodily mortality and artistic immortality. Milton enters Blake through his foot as a star. This same symbol is employed in Shelley's work to represent Keats: "The soul of Adonais, like a star,/ Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are" (494-495). The mirroring symbolism between these two authors commemorating, and basically immortalizing, writers they admire suggests their like intentions. And, quite obviously, the use of a star as a symbol suggests a shimmering brightness--a symbol of fame.