Eve of St Agnes Flashcards
(beginning) ‘The hare limped…
…trembling through the frozen grass’
(beginning) ‘Numb were…
…the Beadsman’s fingers’
(beginning) ‘meagre, barefoot…
…wan’
(beginning) ‘Music’s golden…
…tongue’
(beginning) ‘old dames full…
…many times declare’
(beginning) ‘couch…
…supine their beauties, lily white’
(beginning) ‘honeyed middle…
…of the night’
(beginning) ‘Hoodwink’d with…
…faery fancy’
(beginning) ‘her breathing…
…quick and short’
- sexual anticipation?
(introduction of Por.) ‘that he might gaze…
…and unworship all unseen’
(introduction of Por.) ‘perchance speak, kneel…
…touch, kiss’
(introduction of Por.) ‘Love’s fev’rous…
…citadel’
(Angela and Por.) ‘he scarce could brook tears…
…at the thought of those enchantments cold.’
(Angela and Por.) ‘purple…
…riot’
(Por’s plan) ‘A cruel man…
…and impous thou art’
(Por’s plan) Angela: ‘Sweet lady let her…
…pray, and sleep, and dream alone’
(Por’s plan) Por: ‘I will not harm her…
…by all saints I swear’
(Por’s plan) ‘there hide him…
…in a closet.’
(Por’s plan) ‘of such privacy that he might…
…see her beauty unespied’
(Por’s concealment) ‘the maiden’s chamber…
…silken, hushed, and chaste’
How is Madeline’s breathing described?
‘she panted’
(Mad’s entrance) ‘her heart was…
…voluble, paining with eloquence’
(Mad’s entrance) ‘a tongueless…
…nightingale’
(Mad’s entrance) ‘she knelt for heaven’s…
…grace and boon’
(Mad’s entrance) ‘She knelt, so pure a thing, …
… so free from mortal taint.’
(Madeline undresses) ‘Of all its wreathéd pearls…
…her hair she frees’
(Madeline undresses) ‘Loosens her…
…fragrant bodice’
(Madeline in her room) ‘she dreams…
…awake’
(Madeline asleep) ‘blissfully havened…
…both from joy and pain’
(Madeline asleep) ‘As though a rose should shut…
…, and be a bud again’
(Madeline asleep) ‘from the closet crept…
…noiseless’
(Por prepares feast) ‘Manna and…
…dates’
(Madeline asleep) ‘Thou art my heaven…
…and I thine eremite’
(Madeline asleep) he plays her lute ‘she uttered…
…a soft moan…she panted quick’
(Madeline awakes) ‘There was a…
…painful change…fair Madeline began to weep’
(Madeline awakes) Madeline ‘moan[s] forth…
…witless words’
(Madeline awakes) ‘Give me that…
voice again’
(Madeline awakes) ‘If thou diest…
…I know not where to go’
(Madeline awakes) ‘he arose, ethereal…
… flushed, and like a throbbing star’
(Madeline is awake) ‘Meantime the…
…frost-wind blows’
(Madeline is awake) ‘St Agnes’…
…moon hath set’
(Madeline is awake) ‘This is no dream…
…my bride, my Madeline!’
(They talk, Mad is awake) M: ‘Porphyro will leave me…
…here to fade and pine’
Even the characters expect a tragic end, perhaps Keats rebels against this inbuilt expectation for suffering.
(They talk, Mad is awake) M: ‘I curse not, for…
…my heart is lost in thine’
(They talk, Mad is awake) P: ‘a famished pilgrim…
… - saved by miracle’
(They talk, Mad is awake) P: ‘I will not rob thy nest…
…Saving of thy sweet self’
(They talk, Mad is awake) ‘an elfin-storm…
…from faery land’
(They talk, Mad is awake) ‘Let us away, my love, …
… with happy speed’
(They plan their escape) ‘There were sleeping…
dragons all around’
(They plan their escape) ‘In all the house…
…was heard no human sound’
(They plan their escape) ‘The arras, rich with…
…horseman, hawk and hound’
(They plan their escape) ‘besieging wind’s…
…uproar’
(They plan their escape) ‘They glide, …
… like phantoms’
(They escape) ‘The wakeful…
…bloodhound rose…but his sagacious eye an inmate knew’
(They escape) ‘The chains…
…lie silent’
(They escape) ‘And they are gone…
…ay, ages long ago’
(They escape) ‘These lovers…
…fled away into the storm’
Become a part of mythology, mirroring St Agnes tale as thunder and lightning preserved St Agnes’ virginity.
(They escape) ‘That night the Baron dreamt…
…of many a woe’
(They escape) ‘All his warrior-guests [dreamt of]…
…witch, and demon, and large coffin-worm.’
(They escape) ‘Angela the old…
…died palsy-twitched’
It seems the couple escape the grasp of time and suffering
(They escape) ‘The Beadsman, after thousand aves told…
…For aye unsought for slept among his ashes cold.’
