A Short Deconstruction of a Keats' Sonnet

In Keats’ sonnet "Had I a man's fair form..." the word "meet" in the antepenultimate line is an inherent binarism. Upon an initial reading, I assumed that “meet” was a noun--perhaps a pun on "meat" as to echo the phrase before it, "I will taste the dew." The verb form of meet “to encounter or experience" is generally the privileged form or definition, for example, “I will meet her here at 3 o’ clock”. However in this case, the adjective meaning of “meet” as "proper, fitting or suitable" is privileged for it makes the most contextual sense—tasting the dew is proper, perhaps pleasant. These two meanings of “meet” though, are not naturally hierarchized oppositions but are constructed, implied by the poem’s usage. For to meet someone, as given in the example, often suggests the harmonious, face-to-face gathering of two people. This positive connotation is suggestive of the union of two similar or complementary elements that are compatible with each other as to be “proper, fitting or suitable”. The two definitions are dependent on each other. The adjective denotation and connotation of “meet” is strained however, by the previous line where the dew is referred to as “rich to intoxication” but remains “meet’ to the speaker. Intoxication has a negative connotation of infatuation or obsession with a person or object, which thereby distances you from others and disrupts emotional balance.