Line By Line Explanation Of The Poem The Eve of  St. Agnes

The Eve of  St. Agnes

Full of this whim was thoughtful Madeline:

The music, yearning like a God in pain,

She scarcely heard: her maiden eyes divine,

Fix’d on the floor, saw many a sweeping train

Pass by—she heeded not at all: in vain

Came many a tiptoe, amorous cavalier,

And back retir’d; not cool’d by high disdain,

But she saw not: her heart was otherwhere:

She sigh’d for Agnes’ dreams, the sweetest of the year. ( Stanza 7)

These lines occur in John Keats colourful narrative poem. “The Eve of  St. Agnes”. Here the romantic poet describes colourfully the strange predicament of Madeline, the charming heroine of the narrative poem. The poet concentrates his attention upon a particular lady who was thinking all the time of St. Agnes. She had heard very often from old woman the legend of St. Agnes and the latter’s particular interest in the love and marriage of pure maidens who prayed to her. It was the lady’s belief in the legend which induced her to observe the holy day as a day of prayer and fasting to receive the blessing of the saint in matters of love and marriage.

A maiden who desired to see her future husband or lover had to keep a fast and vigil the whole night and pray with devotion to St. Agnes who allowed her a vision of her future husband.

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In these lines Keats narrates in detail the thoughts that came into Madeline’s mind on St. Agnes’ Eve. Madeline was dancing but she was absent- minded. Her mind was completely occupied with the thought of the dream. and she was lost in thought. Her mind was rapt in strange fancy or ideas. She was unmindful of other things. No distraction could draw her mind away. Dance-music and being played.

Keats like Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge and Byron were fond of music. The music in the dance hall was enchanting and seemed in its sweetness to be that of a God, giving expression to his unsatisfied longing. The maiden didn’t hear the divine music of poignant sweet longing, because her heart was elsewhere and she was not attentive to music. She didnot allow her attention to be distracted by the charming and changing scene in the hall. Her bashful. innocent and beautiful eyes were fixed to the floor and she could see only the long skirts of fashionable ladies sweeping along the floor. As her attention was fixed entirely upon St. Agnes, nothing else claimed her attention. She paid no attention to rivalry going on in the hall. She did not notice the person who came and went. Gallant young lovers had hoped to receive some encouragement from her, if they offered her love, but she remained uninterested. Several young lovers walked daintily, eager to claim her attention. They were excited lovers, but she did not even look at them: she did not encourage their advances. Though she did not respond to the homage of the gallant lovers, their warmth of love for her, didn’t cool down. Her beauty was so captivating that her reserve did not damp their admiration and attraction for her. Instead of feeling repulsed they felt more attractive. Her attention was fixed upon the rites and thought of St. Agnes which promised her their vision. No dream could be so welcome and delightful as the one giving her the vision of her future husband..

This stanza reveals the poet’s love for fine words. Keats looks upon fine phrases like a lover, “Her maiden eyes divine” is a fine poetic expression, bashfulness innocence and exquisite beauty of the Madeline are all suggested by these words. Keats’ descriptions are par-excellence.

A casement high and triple-arch’d there was,

All garlanded with carven imag’ries

Of fruits, and flowers, and bunches of knot-grass,

And diamonded with panes of quaint device,

Innumerable of stains and splendid dyes,

As are the tiger-moth’s deep-damask’d wings;

And in the midst, ‘mong thousand heraldries,

And twilight saints, and dim emblazonings,

A shielded scutcheon blush’d with blood of queens and kings (Stanza 34)

This celebrated stanza from Keats’ romantic narrative poem. The Eve of St. Agnes, is a brilliant description of the inside of the bed-chamber of Madeline. In the chamber there was a high window with three arches in it. Its framework was delicately carved into fantastic and beautiful figures of fruits, flowers and knot-grass and many other things. The window was glazed with diamond shaped panes of various colour, which were as brilliant and varied as the wings of the tiger-moth. In this shield the deep red colour predominated. In the middle of the window, was a shield with heraldic devices and armorial bearings of the family and also the figures of saints. All these devices were dimly lited by the moon on the night. The central shielited with the armorial bearing of the family, was of deep red colour indicating ancestral house wares of the royal line.

These lines also show Keats’ mastery in the art of description. According to Keats, the romantic poet, “Poetry should surprise by fine excess”. Here is a masterpiece of descriptive passage. Here Keats describes in detail one of the apartments of a baronial castle. Here we have perfection of painter’s art in verse. There is no other passage in literature of such sumptuous description and colouring. Throughout the poem the pale moonlight dominates with quiet insistence, clothing all things with its wintery paled white. But here a wealth of warm colour enriches the chamber of Madeline.

At length burst in the argent revelry,

With plume, tiara, and all rich array,

Numerous as shadows haunting faerily

The brain, new stuff’d, in youth, with triumphs gay

Of old romance. These let us wish away,

And turn, sole-thoughted, to one Lady there,

Whose heart had brooded, all that wintry day,

On love, and wing’d St. Agnes’ saintly care,

As she had heard old dames full many times declare. (Stanza 5)

It was the 20th January. All merry-makings were going on. The rooms had smooth floors and rich furniture. All preparations were complete in connection with the celebration of the pious night.

At last the merry-makers in bright dresses appeared on the scene. The males put on feathers in their head-dresses and the ladies had jewelled crowns in their head-dresses. The entire equipage was ornamental and shining. There was no lack of brightness in the bearings: The number of the revellers was large. They took hold of the mind like the forms of fairies. These well-dressed men and women in the hall reminded people of old Knights and ladies in the old books of romance. These Knights had great attraction for the young minds on account of their beautiful pageantries and heroic deeds in the battlefield.

She danc’d along with vague, regardless eyes,

Anxious her lips, her breathing quick and short:

The hallow’d hour was near at hand: she sighs

Amid the timbrels, and the throng’d resort

Of whisperers in anger, or in sport;

‘Mid looks of love, defiance, hate, and scorn,

Hoodwink’d with faery fancy; all amort,

Save to St. Agnes and her lambs unshorn,

And all the bliss to be before to-morrow morn. (Stanza 8)

Various Knights in their best dreams appeared before Madeline but she did not see them. She was lost in thoughts. She was dreaming of meeting her husband that night..

Her eyes were vacant. They did not indicate any special thing. They were fixed on Porphyro. Her lips were anxious to be kissed by him. She was breathing quickly out of curiosity. She was quite particular about that sacred hour when she would meet her lover. Drums were being beaten to celebrate the night. A large crowd of guests was passing that way. But she was sad as the lover was still away from her. She did not pay any attention to the guests, some of whom were angry owing to her neglectful attitude. Others took it lightly. She had feelings of love, opposition, hatred and contempt. She was blinded with the thought of fairy magic. Therefore, she was inattentive to all She was concentrating on St. Agnes. She was thinking of offering two unshaven lambs to St. Agnes.

Sudden a thought came like a full-blown rose,

Flushing his brow, and in his pained heart

Made purple riot: then doth he propose

A stratagem, that makes the beldame start:

“A cruel man and impious thou art:

Sweet lady, let her pray, and sleep, and dream

Alone with her good angels, far apart

From wicked men like thee. Go, go!—I deem

Thou canst not surely be the same that thou didst seem.” (Stanza 16)

Porphyro was happy when Angela told him about her lady’s resolve to meet her lover on the St. Agnes Eve. She was lost in performing those magical rites. She was found sleeping even.

This sleepy position of Madeline enabled Porphyro to devise a plan to win her over. At once a new idea brightened his face. It was as clear to him as is the rose when it blossoms fully. His heart which was so far sad on account of the thoughts of meeting his beloved was violently excited. He decided to play a trick. When he conveyed it to Angela she began to startle at his new plan. She at once called him merciless and unholy. He only wanted Angela not to inform the lady about his arrival. He would go to her room like a thief and meet her. She would be allowed to pray and dream as she liked. He would not disturb even her sleep. The old nurse did not like his idea. She wanted to save her from had person. She asked him to go away. Really, he was quite different from what he appeared to be. Apparently, he was innocent and simple but really he was cunning and mischievous.

Which was, to lead him, in close secrecy,

Even to Madeline’s chamber, and there hide

Him in a closet, of such privacy

That he might see her beauty unespy’d,

And win perhaps that night a peerless bride,

While legion’d faeries pac’d the coverlet,

And pale enchantment held her sleepy-ey’d.

Never on such a night have lovers met,

Since Merlin paid his Demon all the monstrous debt. (Stanza 19)

Angela was moved by the speech of Porphyro. She was ready to help him whatever might happen to her.

She went ahead in her plans to assist him. She took him near to the private room of Madeline with top secrecy. Then he was closed in a room from where he might look at his beloved. He could see her but she could not detect it. This process might enable him to win a matchless wife on the night of St. Agnes. Madeline was hunted by innumerable fairies in her dreams. Her bed-cover was being assailed by these fairies. Similarly the enchantment of St. Agnes Eve in that dim moonlight overpowered her and she remained sleepy and drowsy, although her love was so very near to her. It was only a rare meeting of the beloved and the lover on such a stormy night exposed to all dangers. The lovers have never met earlier. The first meeting was between Merlin and his beloved Vivian. When the beloved imprisoned him in a tree, he had to fall a prey to his own spell. In that manner, she paid back what he received from his father, a demon.

Out went the taper as she hurried in;

Its little smoke, in pallid moonshine, died:

She clos’d the door, she panted, all akin

To spirits of the air, and visions wide:

No uttered syllable, or, woe betide!

But to her heart, her heart was voluble,

Paining with eloquence her balmy side;

As though a tongueless nightingale should swell

Her throat in vain, and die, heart-stifled, in her dell. (Stanza 23)

Madeline came out of another part of the building. When she was going to her chamber, she saw the old nurse called Angela trying to seek the stair: case in dark. The young girl at once guided her with the light of the silver taper and then she came back to her chamber.

In this hurry, Madeline lost the balance of her hand and the candle was put out. It then produced smoke but soon it died away in the pale moonlight. Madeline closed the door and then she breathed heavily. She in that position looked like an angel. She was endowed with the power of all sweeping vision. There was the need of absolute silence. Even the slightest sound could create a great danger. External silence could be maintained but it was very difficult for Madeline to keep her heart silent. She wanted to express ‘herself. She was in a state of violent agitation. She wanted to burst forth and pour out all her feelings as strongly as she could. If she did not express the feelings of her heart, there was the possibilility of the choking of her heart. She could be compared to that speechless nightingale which puffed its throat to sing but which could not sing owing to its dumbness. In that case, it was sure to be choked. It would then die one day in its valley. Similarly Madeline pined for expression.

Anon his heart revives: her vespers done,

Of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees;

Unclasps her warmed jewels one by one;

Loosens her fragrant boddice; by degrees

Her rich attire creeps rustling to her knees:

Half-hidden, like a mermaid in sea-weed,

Pensive awhile she dreams awake, and sees,

In fancy, fair St. Agnes in her bed,

But dares not look behind, or all the charm is fled. (Stanza 26)

When Porphyro saw Madeline in her purest form, he fainted away. She was so pure and taintless.

Very soon he came to his senses and then he began to watch her activities more closely. She had finished her evening prayers. Her hair formerly was decorated with pearls but now she removed them from that place. Her hair thus was pearless. She then removed her jewels one by one. These jewels were warm on account of their touch with her body. She also loosened the bodice full of sweet smell. She then looked at her rich clothes. They too were made a bit loose, with the result that they began to touch her knees. Whenever she moved, these loose clothes produced a slight sound. With the loosening of her dress, she was half revealed and half concealed. She was still lost in deep thoughts. She was awake physically but she was mentally sleeping over the bed of fancies. She saw a dream in which St. Agnes had come to her bed. She could not decide to look at her because if she saw behind, the charm of the magic would be gone and she would not have the vision of her future husband.

Soon, trembling in her soft and chilly nest,

In sort of wakeful swoon, perplex’d she lay,

Until the poppied warmth of sleep oppress’d

Her soothed limbs, and soul fatigued away;

Flown, like a thought, until the morrow-day;

Blissfully haven’d both from joy and pain;

Clasp’d like a missal where swart Paynims pray;

Blinded alike from sunshine and from rain,

As though a rose should shut, and be a bud again. (Stanza 27)

Madeline kept on dreaming Agnes. She did not look behind otherwise the charm would have been over. She was shivering with cold in her cold room. Although she was awake, she was quite unconscious of her surroundings as she was lost in fancies. At last she was overpowered by the drowsiness of sleep. Her body felt a soothing sleep. The soul was tired and it left the body. It flew away during her sleep. It disappeared as an idea vanishes. She was happily sheltered both from joy and pain. When we are awake we feel joy and sorrow. These two feelings are absent for a sleeper. The sleep embraced Madeline so warmly as a Christian grips tightly a prayer-book when dark- complexioned heathens offer prayers. The maiden was protected from sun and rain as she slept in a covered room. Her beautiful face which bloomed like a rose when she was awake looked like a bud in her sleep. Nobody could have imagined that the rose could be converted into a bud.

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As though……..again-We have read that a bud is changed into a rose but here the poet imagines that the rosy face of Madeline was converted into a bud in her sleep. This stanza is regarded as the best one by critics. Images pile on images. The mind of the reader fluctuates and moves with one image or the other. At last, the best image comes in the last time.

These delicates he heap’d with glowing hand

On golden dishes and in baskets bright

Of wreathed silver: sumptuous they stand

In the retired quiet of the night,

Filling the chilly room with perfume light.—

“And now, my love, my seraph fair, awake!

Thou art my heaven, and I thine eremite:

Open thine eyes, for meek St. Agnes’ sake,

Or I shall drowse beside thee, so my soul doth ache.” (Stanza 31)

Porphyro took advantage of Madeline’s sleep. He arranged various fruits for the feast during her sleep. Things from Samarkand to Lebanon were there on the table.

Porphyro collected all these fruits on the table with his own hands which shone brightly on the beautiful dishes. He put them in baskets which were made of silver threads skilfully interwoven. This mixture of white and gold colours must have presented a lovely sight. The fruits were all lying on the table in the peaceful atmosphere of the night. They filled the cold room with the sweet fragrance. The whole room was scented with their perfume. Then the hero asked his bright angel to wake up and oblige him with her conversation. She was a deity to him and he was her worshipper. She was asked to wake up at least for the sake of St. Agnes whose celebrations were being held that night. If she slept while her lover stood before her, it would be a great dishonour to St. Agnes who wanted the union of lover and the beloved that night. His heart was agonised with love and so if she continued sleeping. he would also sleep by her side and get mental peace.

Awakening up, he took her hollow lute,—

Tumultuous,—and, in chords that tenderest be,

He play’d an ancient ditty, long since mute,

In Provence call’d, “La belle dame sans mercy”:

Close to her ear touching the melody;—

Wherewith disturb’d, she utter’d a soft moan:

He ceas’d—she panted quick—and suddenly

Her blue affrayed eyes wide open shone:

Upon his knees he sank, pale as smooth-sculptured stone. (Stanza 33)

Porphyro was lost in thoughts when Madeline did not wake up. She was overpowered by the charm, and it appeared that her eyes could never shake off the effect of that spell.

Very soon Porphyro’s fancies were gone. He got up and was free from dreams. He devised a nice plan for awakening the beloved. He touched her lute which was lying idle. He sounded it loudly but the tunes that it produced were soft. He sang an old song which could not be heard for many days. In the south-east of France people called it a song in honour of a fair lady without mercy. He played upon the lute just near the ears of Madeline so that she might be awakened quickly. The beloved was disturbed by the song. When she heard it so near to her, she made a soft mourning utterance. She began to heave a heavy and quick sigh. Very soon she opened her blue eyes which also indicated fear. They remained open due to fear. At this. Porphyro knelt down before Madeline to pay homage to her. He did not speak a single word, but he remained pale like a calm state. How could he say anything? He had already disturbed a cultured lady in her sweet and secluded sleep.

Beyond a mortal man impassion’d far

At these voluptuous accents, he arose

Ethereal, flush’d, and like a throbbing star

Seen mid the sapphire heaven’s deep repose;

Into her dream he melted, as the rose

Blendeth its odour with the violet,—

Solution sweet: meantime the frost-wind blows

Like Love’s alarum pattering the sharp sleet

Against the window-panes; St. Agnes’ moon hath set. (Stanza 36)

The words of Madeline addressed to Porphyro of her dream filled Porphyro with new zeal and life. His dullness was gone and he was once again a divine being on account of his bright and red face..

Madeline’s words of deep and passionate love moved Porphyro to new excitements and vigour. He experienced a passion which is rarely felt by a human being. He at once gave up kneeling and stood before his beloved. His personality at this movement sparkled most. He was lifted into heaven by the ecstasy of love. His face shone with a reddish colour. He was like a twinkling star in the calm, blue sky. He raised his personality to such a stature that the Porphyro of her dream was no other than the red Porphyro standing before her. The distinction between two Porphyros was gone. The rose merged its fragrance into that of the violet. Oneness was established. This union of the two personalities was a happy one. While the two lovers were meeting inside the room, the hail was falling over the window-panes outside. It was an indication that time was fleeting. Many changes were taking place in external nature. Even the moon had set. There were warnings to the lover and the beloved that they should quicken their activities otherwise their end was imminent.

“Hark! ’tis an elfin-storm from faery land,

Of haggard seeming, but a boon indeed:

Arise—arise! the morning is at hand;—

The bloated wassaillers will never heed:—

Let us away, my love, with happy speed;

There are no ears to hear, or eyes to see,—

Drown’d all in Rhenish and the sleepy mead:

Awake! arise! my love, and fearless be,

For o’er the southern moors I have a home for thee. (Stanza 39)

Porphyro was happy in the company of Madeline. He advised her to run away with him as he was her trusted benefactor.

The hero drew her attention towards the blowing of the storm. It was coming from the land of fairies. It appeared to be ugly externally but it was a blessing in disguise. They would get the best opportunity to run away in this disturbed weather. The morning was also to dawn soon. Hence they could escape easily. The Knights were all heavily drunk and as such they would not be able to detect their escape. They should go at once with a good speed. Nobody could listen to their conversation, nobody could see them. They were down with wine. They had taken honey and water which induced them to sleep. She should therefore take the advantage of this position. She should get up and be ready to run away with him. He had already arranged accommodation for her in the marshy place to the south.

He ventures in: let no buzz’d whisper tell:

All eyes be muffled, or a hundred swords

Will storm his heart, Love’s fev’rous citadel:

For him, those chambers held barbarian hordes,

Hyena foemen, and hot-blooded lords,

Whose very dogs would execrations howl

Against his lineage: not one breast affords

Him any mercy, in that mansion foul,

Save one old beldame, weak in body and in soul. (Stanza 10)

These lines have been taken from the poetical work of John Keats named The Eve. of St. Agnes. Porphyro with fire of love for Madeline ventured to enter her castle. He was not whispering and was silent in his manner. He was not afraid of the sword which would pierce in his heart. His heart, was citaded with love. The chamber were full of barbarous enemies, cruel like hyena. Their very dags would bark at the family of Porphyro. No one lord would show mercy to him, except an old lady named Angela. The lines show the bravery of Porphero and the merciful character of Angela, the nurse of Madeline

Full on this casement shone the wintry moon,

And threw warm gules on Madeline’s fair breast,

As down she knelt for heaven’s grace and boon;

Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest,

And on her silver cross soft amethyst,

And on her hair a glory, like a saint:

She seem’d a splendid angel, newly drest,

Save wings, for heaven:—Porphyro grew faint:

She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint.

These lines contain in stanza 25 of The Eve of St. Agnes compiled by John Keats. Porphyro is the hero and Madeline is the heroine of this poetical work. Hero is in love with heroine one night he enters in her castle where he meets Angela, an old nurse. She leads him to Madeline’s chamber where he hides in closet. He sees Madeline’s beauty, breast and hair. He was fainted by seeing her glory. She seemed him like a saint and angel. The lines are romantic and descriptive. They are cheap aesthetic devices implied in the poem.

St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was!

The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;

The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass,

And silent was the flock in woolly fold:

Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told

His rosary, and while his frosted breath,

Like pious incense from a censer old,

Seem’d taking flight for heaven, without a death,

Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith. These lines are from the starting stanza of the poetic creation of John Keats named The Eve of St. Agnes. This is a descriptive poem. It is likely a painting that is filled with carefully observed and minute detail it is an utterly chilly. It is so cold that even the owl, inspite of his thick feathers is suffering. The hare is trembling through the frozen gran. The woolly sheep are silent in their fold. The old beadsman’s fingers are benumbed with intense cold. His frosted breath, like the holy incense, is seen like a departing soul. Just freed from the body. The lines are the pen picture of The Eve of the St. Agnes.

And they are gone: ay, ages long ago

These lovers fled away into the storm.

That night the Baron dreamt of many a woe,

And all his warrior-guests, with shade and form

Of witch, and demon, and large coffin-worm,

Were long be-nightmar’d. Angela the old

Died palsy-twitch’d, with meagre face deform;

The Beadsman, after thousand aves told,

For aye unsought for slept among his ashes cold.

These lines are from the Eve of St. Agnes written by John Keats. Prophero was in love with Madeline. He was happy in accompanying Madeline. A particular night, the two leave the castle undetected and go out into the storm. That night the master of house saw the dreadful dreams of demons, witches and rotting dead bodies. The old lady Angela died from paralysis, her face deformed. The beadsman died too after repeating his prayers a thousand times and went to an everlasting sleep. The lines are narrative and trifling.

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