This Living Hand

This living hand, now warm and capable

Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold

And in the icy silence of the tomb,

So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights

That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood

So in my veins red life might stream again,

And thou be conscience-calmed—see here it is—

I hold it towards you.

John Keats

Imagery

Living hand- warm and capable of grasping

Cold hand- Icy silence of the tomb, haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights

Wish thine own heart dry of blood

Red life my stream again

I hold it towards you

In this poem, it seems that the author is on the brink of death and recognizes it in the first four lines, in lines five and six however, I feel the imagery is at its best and they explain the main point of the poem. “That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood” “So in my veins red life might stream again.” The imagery in line five “thine own heart dry of blood,” is of course referring to death, which is interesting considering that the author is no longer talking about himself dying anymore, he is talking about someone else’s wishes. Which leads me to believe that the author is anticipating what his acquaintance, possibly a lover, will experience with his passing, which would be joining him in death. I feel that line six enforces this claim with, “so in my veins red life might stream again.” Red life is of course blood, except I don’t think it means blood literally in this line, instead I think it represents his lover killing herself to being with him, to have him appear lifelike again. These two lines give me an overall understanding of this poem and what the author is trying to say. The author is speaking to his lover, and although he may feel alive warm and capable of holding her now, he thinks he is going to die soon. So if they were to go cold, he would be with her in spirit. He is also telling her that although she may want to end her life to essentially be with him again, she should not have these thoughts because he will be with her forever. He enhances that idea by the very ending of the poem “I hold it towards you.” This line follows the overall imagery of his hand and that he still holds it towards her, which I think is his way of saying something like, “forever yours” or “I will always be with you.”