1. I based this mixtape on one of John Keats’ sonnets, “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be.” It focuses on how small our lives are in the context of the universe and all the missed opportunities in life. It has a sense of nostalgia and melancholy that I think this song captures. Baker sings about distant planets, saying they “know nothing of our satellites and 747s” (0:12-36). The song calls out humanity’s most impressive achievements as insignificant to the universe. One lyric is “When I am a sailor, and the sky, a pitch-black ocean, I’ll look down at my bleeding heart and wish I were a Vulcan” (1:02-26). This is similar to part of Keats’ poem: “Then on the shore/ Of the wide world I stand alone, and think / Till love and fame to nothingness do sink” (12-4). Both Baker and Keats write from the perspective of someone looking out at a vast expanse and pondering their existence.
2. In this song, Luke Hemmings sings about feeling panic over time passing and uses a gunshot signaling the start of race as a metaphor for life: “I wake up every morning with the years ticking by / I’m missing all these memories, maybe they were never mine / I feel the walls are closin’, I’m running out of the time / I think I missed the gun at the starting line” (0:47 -1:14). In the poem, Keats writes about things he may never get to do in life. Both Hemmings and Keats frame life as a race against time, a race that cannot be won. The sense of limited time is somewhat claustrophobic in both works.
3. In the sonnet, Keats writes about knowing he will never see his love again someday. In “Laughter Lines,” the singer says “I’ll see you in the future when we’re older / And we are full of stories to be told. / Cross my heart and hope to die, / I’ll see you with your laughter lines” (1:00-28). Instead of knowing he will never see his loved one again, the singer is promising that he will. It’s somewhat desperate, like he is trying to convince himself as much as anyone.
4. Keats’ poem is about being afraid – perhaps of death, perhaps of leaving no legacy. This song’s lyrics are focused on aging and giving into oblivion. The singer seems to hesitate to surrender to it, saying, “When oblivion / Is calling out your name / You always take it further / Than I ever can” (0:49-1:11). He also poses the question, “Are you going to leave a path to trace?” (1:42-6). The full opening line of Keats’ sonnet is “When I have fears that I may cease to be / Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain” (1-2). The poem is not simply about dying but dying before he has the chance to write his ideas down – dying without leaving a path to trace.
5. This song could be seen as a response to the sonnet; it’s like an assurance from a poet to someone scared to die. The singer promises, “I have written you down / Now you will live forever / And all the world will read you” (0:34-42). In the context of the poem, it could be a general assurance; it could also be an assurance about the lover Keats’ writes about losing. At one point the lyrics say, “I have read her with these eyes / I have held her with these hands” (1:55-2:03). Either way, it is all about how poetry can immortalize someone. It’s especially impactful in the context of Keats, since he died so young, and since the sonnet talks about dying before having the chance to write everything he wants to write.
6. Sleeping at Last’s Atlas: Enneagram album is based on the 9 enneagram personality types. Fives, also known as the investigators, are introverted, analytical, and curious. This song is all about them. I think it belongs here because of the opening stanza: “I want to watch the universe expand / I want to break it into pieces small enough to understand / And put it all back together again / In the quiet of my private collection” (2:10-42). The sonnet’s narrator seems overwhelmed with the universe; the song’s narrator wants to take in all the knowledge possible, make it manageable, and be at peace with it.
7. This is my favorite song by Sleeping at Last. Keats’ sonnet ends with the narrator pondering existence: “Then on the shore/ Of the wide world I stand alone, and think / Till love and fame to nothingness do sink” (12-4). I think the song captures a similar idea. One of the repeating lines is, “How rare and beautiful it is to even exist” (3:05-17). Societally, there’s a long list of things you must do to be successful in life. Both of these lines point towards the impressiveness of existence itself, regardless of any human accomplishment.