John Keats

This living hand

I think that the living hand was very symbolic to him as he was a writer and poet and his arm was his life. To lose it would have cost him everything. I also think that this poem has a very haunting tone to it. The second line where he says:

Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold

And in the icy silence of the tomb

I kind of feel that since Keats was aware of his condition and the eventual outcome of his illness that his writings took on a melancholy tone. He really seems to be directing this poem to a certain person I get this feeling from the lines:

So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights

That thou would wish thine own hea(r)t dry of blood

Almost sounds as if he is talking to someone who might have harmed him at some point but in the end he comes out alright by showing his hand to the reader.

So in my veins red life might stream again,

And thou be conscience-calm’d-see here it is-

I hold it towards you-.