''The Eve of St. Agnes'' is a

Romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

narrative poem of 42

Spenserian stanza The Spenserian stanza is a fixed verse form invented by Edmund Spenser for his epic poem ''The Faerie Queene'' (1590–96). Each stanza contains nine lines in total: eight lines in iambic pentameter followed by a single 'alexandrine' line in iambic ...

s set in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. It was written by

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

1819 Events January–March * January 2 – The Panic of 1819, the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States, begins. * January 25 – Thomas Jefferson founds the University of Virginia. * January 29 – Si ...

and published in

1820 Events January–March *January 1 – Nominal beginning of the Trienio Liberal in Spain: A constitutionalist military insurrection at Cádiz leads to the summoning of the Spanish Parliament (March 7). *January 8 – General Maritime T ...

. The poem was considered by many of Keats's contemporaries and the succeeding Victorians to be one of his finest and was influential in

19th-century literature The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolish ...

. The title comes from the day (or evening) before the feast of

Saint Agnes Agnes of Rome () is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches. St. Agnes is one of several virgin martyrs com ...

(or St. Agnes' Eve). St. Agnes, the patron saint of virgins, died a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

in 4th century Rome. The eve falls on 20 January; the feast day on the 21st. The divinations referred to by Keats in this poem are referred to by John Aubrey in his ''Miscellanies'' (1696) as being associated with St. Agnes' night.

Background

Keats based his poem on the folk belief that a girl could see her future husband in a dream if she performed certain rites on the eve of St. Agnes; that is, she would go to bed without any supper, and transfer pins one by one from a pincushion to a sleeve while reciting the Lord’s Prayer.Castelow, Ellen. "Eve of St Agnes", Historic UK
/ref> Then the proposed husband would appear in her dream. A Scottish version of the ritual would involve young women meeting together on St. Agnes's Eve at midnight, they would go one by one, into a remote field and throw in some grain, after which they repeated the following rhyme in a prayer to St. Agnes:"Agnes sweet, and Agnes fair, Hither, hither, now repair; Bonny Agnes, let me see The lad who is to marry me." Keats started writing this seminal work while staying in Chichester. He travelled to Chichester, probably arriving on St Agnes’ Day, 20 January 1819. It is said that the medieval architecture of Chichester inspired the great hall and house where Madeline lived. A statue of Keats resides in Eastgate Square in Chichester to commemorate the fact he started this poem there. The statue was unveiled by Chichester-based actress Dame Patricia Routledge. In the original version of his poem, Keats emphasised the young lovers' sexuality, but his publishers, who feared public reaction, forced him to tone down the eroticism.

Plot

On a bitterly chill night, an elderly

beadsman Bedesman, or beadsman (Med. Eng. ''bede'', prayer, from O. Eng. ''biddan'', to pray; literally "a man of prayer"; and from Anglo Saxon "bed"), was generally a pensioner or almsman whose duty was to pray for his benefactor. Function A Bedesman (o ...

says his prayers in the chapel of the ancestral home of Madeline's family, where a loud party has begun.Michie, Allen. "Poetry Remembrance: John Keats, 'The Eve of St. Agnes' — Forever Young at 200", The Arts Fuse, 9 September 2020
/ref> Madeline pines for the love of Porphyro, sworn enemy to her kin. She has heard 'old dames full many times declare' that she may receive sweet dreams of her lover if, on this night, St. Agnes' Eve, she retires to bed following the proper rituals. Later that night, Porphyro makes his way to the castle and braves entry, seeking out Angela, an elderly woman friendly to his family, and importuning her to lead him to Madeline's room at night, where he may but gaze upon her sleeping form. Angela is persuaded only with difficulty, and first obtains some food from the banquet for them. Concealed in an ornate, carved closet in Madeline's room, Porphyro watches as Madeline makes ready for bed. He creeps forth as she sleeps, to prepare a feast of rare delicacies. Madeline wakes and sees before her the same image she has seen in her dream and, thinking Porphyro part of it, receives him into her bed. Waking in full and realising her mistake, she tells Porphyro she cannot hate him for his deception since her heart is so much in his, but that if he goes now he leaves behind "A dove forlorn and lost / With sick unpruned wing". Porphyro declares his love for Madeline and promises her a home with him over the southern moors. They flee from the castle, passing insensate, drunken revellers and rush into the night. Angela's death is revealed in the poem's final stanza and the beadsman, "after thousand aves told, / For aye unsought for slept among his ashes cold".

Commentary

Written in the Gothic style, the poem reflects "...many of the same concerns that Keats explores in his odes--imagination, dreaming and vision, and life as a mixture of opposites." In it, Keats blends a medieval legend with a tale of star-crossed lovers, such as ''Romeo and Juliet'' and the traditional French romance ''

Floris and Blancheflour ''Floris and Blancheflour'' is the name of a popular romantic story that was told in the Middle Ages in many different vernacular languages and versions. It first appears in Europe around 1160 in "aristocratic" French. Roughly between the period ...

''.

Alluded to by others

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

's short story "

Wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

" (1902) has the narrator witnessing a recreation of the poem by a man in a trance who, by virtue of the similarities of his situation to that of Keats (he is a consumptive apothecary's assistant), becomes "tuned" to the poet. * H.P. Lovecraft's short story "

The Outsider The Outsider may refer to: Film * ''The Outsider'' (1917 film), an American film directed by William C. Dowlan * ''The Outsider'' (1926 film), an American film directed by Rowland V. Lee * ''The Outsider'' (1931 film), a film starring Joan Barr ...

" features the final stanza of the poem as an epigraph. *

Harry Clarke Henry Patrick Clarke (17 March 1889 – 6 January 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. His work was influenced by both the Art Nouveau and ...

's ''The Eve of St. Agnes'' is a stained glass masterpiece inspired by the poem.

References

External links

*
'St. Agnes Eve'
Text of 'St. Agnes' Eve' by Keats from Bartleby.
''The Eve of St. Agnes''
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

(scanned books color illustrated). Notable editions:
''The Eve of St. Agnes''
(1900) calligraphy by

Ralph Fletcher Seymour Ralph Fletcher Seymour (March 18, 1876 – January 1, 1966) was an American artist, author, and publisher of the late nineteenth and the twentieth centuries. Though long based in Chicago, he was also noted for his work in the American Southwest ...

, "Introduction" by

Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...

''The Eve of St. Agnes''
(1885) illus. by

Edmund H. Garrett Edmund Henry Garrett (1853–1929) was an American illustrator, bookplate-maker, and author—as well as a highly respected painter—renowned for his illustrations of the legends of King Arthur. Biography Garrett was born in Albany, New York o ...

The Theme of ''The Eve of St. Agnes'' in the Pre-Raphaelite Movement
An analysis of the poem at Victorianweb * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eve of St. Agnes, The British poems Poetry by John Keats 1820 poems