Columnist admires author

After studying the works of John Keats in a literature course, I found many things I didn't know about this amazing poet.

Keats wrote all his works in a four-year span leading up to his death in 1821, at age 25. What amazes me about Keats, however, is not how young he died, but how fully he lived in his brief life.

With graduation approaching, I find myself succumbing more frequently to stress, and to my shame, I find myself losing sight of what is important and worth appreciation in my life.

Keats was four years older than I am now when his life was cut short, and yet he lived so intensely. I believe he experienced more in his 25 years than most people can hope to experience in a lifetime.

You can feel it in his words. He felt and strove to capture all the details of the sensual world, whether it be the winking bubbles on a wine glass or wailful choirs of gnat music—all was alive with some intrinsic, natural magic.

I want to feel that magic. I want to be able to see the world around me and be amazed. I want to lose myself in all I do and experience even the smallest details of my surroundings with joy and exultation.

Keats wrote a good amount of his poetry with the active knowledge that he was dying, but I don’t want to have to be dying to take advantage of the world I’m a part of.

I live in a different world than Keats and I may not ever come close to experiencing life the way that he did, but I can try. With Keats’ words to guide me, I want to try to seize the day unlike I ever have before.

As a great teacher once said, “Be who you are now. Start being you now. Make a commitment to life. Love the workings of your mind. You’ve got to learn to trust that art in you and really let it come alive, whatever anybody else tells you.”

Keats lived intensely for a while, and I am determined to live thus—with passion and intensity, trusting the art I have within me.