Keats, Rachmaninov, and Somerset Maugham

One of my favorite things to do is to contemplate connections between authors and composers. Previously I shared some brief thoughts about Beethoven and Shakespeare. I guess these three guys in the title could be part two in an author/composer series...

It would be hard for me to think of a poet whose works I admire more than John Keats. Granted, I am no poetry expert, but I have read quite a few of Keats' poems. One of my favorites is "When I have fears that I may cease to be"

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
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,
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.

Incredibly melancholy, even downright depressing, but this poem made a very strong impression on me when I read it. I have contemplated this poem a lot. For me, it is saying how fleeting our lives are. There is so much to see and experience in the world, most of which we will never get a chance to do. Dreams unfulfilled for whatever reason, expectations of life that have gradually slipped through our fingers...The more we dwell on this fact, the worse we feel. The only response (especially for Keats, who died at the tragically young age of 26!) is to remember that everyone and everything will still come to nothing in the end. The fact is that all our experiences and achievements, no matter how wonderful, will come to an end for each and every person. In a way, it can be a comfort. The dream of living a 100% completely perfect and fulfilled life is not possible in this world. When we realize that "fame" will eventually become nothing, we are comforted. Since the goal is not attainable, we come to terms with our mortality and become free to enjoy what we can experience.


A quote by Rachmaninov...


"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music."

Continuing with this similar idea, it is impossible to experience all the beauty of music (or the world/art/etc.) in one lifetime. Being a pianist and also a lover of classic literature, I can certainly attest to the fact that I will never be able to immerse myself in all the great works of the past. We might as well submerge ourselves in the beauty around us, and do the best with what we can get our hands on.

And now to throw another author into the mix...my favorite quote from my favorite book of all time- Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham:

"He had lived always in the future, and the present always, always had slipped through his fingers. His ideals? He thought of his desire to make a design, intricate and beautiful, out of the myriad, meaningless facts of life: had he not seen also that the simplest pattern, that in which a man was born, worked, married, had children, and died, was likewise the most perfect? It might be that to surrender to happiness was to accept defeat, but it was a defeat better than many victories."

That about sums it up. You can take from it what you will, but I think it pretty much speaks for itself. As a conclusion to the peaceful melancholy these great pieces of art and artists inspire, the wonderful piano version of Rachmaninov's Vocalise. Enjoy the sublime playing of Emil Gilels.