Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star...

Upon reading "Bright Star" by John Keats, I discerned the central theme of the poem to be a profession of the speaker's love towards his object of affection, or in other words, his one true love. At the beginning, the speaker discusses how he yearns to be "steadfast" like a star; however, it is not for the reasons one would expect. He does not want to be alone or forced to experience sleepless nights, or even to be high in the sky to admire all of the beautiful sights below. He mentions the oceans and snow-topped mountains, but they are not what capture his interest in being star-like. Instead, the speaker wants to be a star so that he can remain "still steadfast" and "still unchangeable" to the woman he loves. He also says he wants "to feel forever its [his fair love's breast] soft fall and swell, awake forever in a sweet unrest" with her. The speaker is clearly extremely devoted to this woman. It really shows the depth of his love that he goes as far as to wish he could emulate the unwavering qualities of a star in order to be with her forever. The contradiction of the paired words "sweet unrest" add further to the theme. Although the speaker did not want to endure sleepless nights, he showed how he would be willing to if it meant being with his love. The sleepless nights would become sweet rather than the lonely ones of an "Eremite".