The Eve of St Agnes Flashcards
Stanza structure?
Spenserian stanzas - 8 lines of iambic pentameter followed by 1 line of iambic hexameter (12 syllables)
“Ah, bitter chill it was!”
Exclamation, “bitter” shows intensity. Pathetic fallacy
“The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold”
Emphasises the cold - even owl is cold despite being adapted for it
“Silent was the flock in woolly fold”
Suggests lifelessness, flock is also a reference to religion - ‘Jesus is a shepherd’
“Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told / His rosary”
Despite the fact that they are moving, emphasises cold + cold atmosphere further. The Beadsman also shows that the poem is taking place in a wealthy environment, as people can afford Beadsman
“rosary”, “pious”, “heaven”, “sweet Virgin’s picture”, “prayer”
Religious imagery/religious lexis
Stanza 1 notes
Used to set the atmosphere - deathly, dark, religious.
“His prayer he saith, this patient, holy man”
Switches to past tense
“And back returneth, meagre, barefoot, wan”
Shows that he is poor and old, tripling for emphasis
“Along the chapel aisle by slow degrees”
Emphasises his age and how cold it is
“The sculptured dead, on each side, seem to freeze, / emprisoned in black, purgatorial rails”
Lack of movement, potentially meant to imply that everything is frozen.
“Purgatorial” also implies lost and waiting
“Knights, ladies, praying in dumb orat’tries, / He passeth by”
Gothic imagery
“ere Music’s golden tongue”
Metaphor. Introduces contrast between previous stanzas and the atmosphere in them
“But no - already had his deathbell rung: / The joys of all his life were said and sung”
Cesura jarrs rhythm of the line. Sudden shift to past tense following the cesura shows how close he is to death.
“St Agnes’ Eve”
Allows us to know the time of year
“Rough ashes sat he for his soul’s reprieve”
Reference to ‘ashes to ashes’ -> death
Stanza 4 notes
Movement and noise of the party contrasts with the mood of the early stanzas
Action is taking place in another part of the castle
“Silver, snarling trumpets”
Sibilance
“The carved angels, ever eager-eyed”
Gothic, deathly imagery (angels), assonance and alliteration
“With hair blown back, and wings put cross-wise on their / breasts”
Stillness, contrasts with the music and movement of the party
“At length burst…”
Sense of vivacity
“With plume, tiara, and all rich array”
Shows the wealth of the people at the party
Stanza 5 notes
Sense of bustle and movement
“These let us wish away, / And turn, sole-thoughted, to one Lady there”
Speaker directly addresses the reader with this interjection. Image of solitude and stillness contrasts again with the party
“On love, and winged St Agnes’ saintly care, / As she had heard old dames full many times declare”
Shows that she believes in the legend - important to the plot line
“Young virgins might have visions of delight”
V sound alliteration emphasises the need for sexual purity
“A soft adorings from their loves receive”
Assonance makes it seem softer and more gentle, and female purity is associated with gentleness
“Upon the honeyed middle of the night”
Metaphor, gives a sense of fantasy
“Lily white”
Reference to death - used in many of Keats’ poems, also a reference to purity
“But require / Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire”
Have to trust in heaven, if they follow the rules they can get what they want, religious reference
Notes on party stanzas
Much more life, love, and movement than in the first stanzas. Increased enjambment gives a sense of movement and a faster pace to the slightly later stanzas
“Full of this whim was thoughtful Madeline”
She is young and naive - believes in the legend so strongly
“The music, yearning like a God in pain”
She’s not listening to the music, yearning so strongly - powerful simile
“Saw many a sweeping train / Pass by”
Enjambment - gives a sense of movement and flow
“Her maiden eyes divine”
Reference to religious purity - virgin and divine
“In vain / Came many a tip-toe, amorous cavalier, / And back retired”
Likely to be many rich suitors as we are aware of her wealth - the fact she is ignoring them is even more significant, emphasises how invested she is in the legend
“Danced along with vague, regardless eyes”
Disengaged with the party
“Breathing quick and short”
Possibly a sexual or sensual reference to her excitement
“The hallowed hour was near at hand”
H sounds emphasise her excitement
“Save to St Agnes and her lambs unshorn”
Image of purity
“So, purposing each moment to retire, / She lingered still.”
Cesura in line suggests anticipation
“Young Porphyro, with heart on fire / For Madeline”
Enjambment, showing an overflow of his passion, and fire also indicates passion
“She lingered still. Meantime, across the moors,…”
Madeline and Porphyro share a line of iambic pentameter which shows their togetherness. Usually the stanzas, owing to their Spenserian structure, contain separate events, but they share a stanza, and even a line, which shows the extent of their togetherness, even though his character has barely been introduced
“Fire”, “moonlight”, “gaze”, “speak, kneel, touch, kiss”
High concentration of romantic lexis, creates a contrast with the cold lifelessness of opening stanzas which emphasises the warmth of their love and its significance within the poem, but it may also foreshadow the tragic ending
“And he implores / All saints to give him sight of Madeline / Buy for one moment…” (stanza 9)
Enjambment shows her importance to him
“He ventures in”
Present tense - more immediate, foregrounds the danger
“He ventures in - let no buzzed whisper tell, / All eyes be muffled, or a hundred swords…” (stanza 10)
Lots of cesuras to slow the pace, and create suspense and tension. Makes entry to the castle seem more dangerous
“Love’s fev’rous citadel”, “barbarian hordes”, “hyena foemen” “hot-blooded lords”, “whole blood-thirsty race”
Hyperbolic descriptions of risk and danger to increases suspense. ALSO, link to Romeo and Juliet (act 2 scene 2) and the risks that Isabella and Lorenzo take
“Save one old beldame, weak in body and in soul”
The only person that will help him. She’s on her way to death
“Shuffling along”, “palsied hand”
Gives a sense of Angela’s age and fragility
“Dwarfish Hildebrand… He had a fever late, and in the fit / He cursed thee and thine”
Cursed him and his family even when he was ill - shows the extent at which he dislikes Porphyro and his family, which emphasises the danger he is in as he tries to enter.
“Flit like a ghost away”
Prophetic simile
“Ah, gossip dear, / we’re safe enough”
Porphyro seems slightly arrogant/overconfident when Angela warns him about the danger, and then dismisses it. This shows that he is infatuated with Madeline and he does not care about the danger, but also presents him as being slightly naive
“Or else these stones will be thy bier”
Bier = coffin, reference to death and to Romeo and Juliet
“Followed through a lowly arched way, brushing the cobwebs with his lofty plume…” (stanza 13)
More cold and deathly imagery - gothic
“Silent as a tomb”
Another simile that references death, foreshadows the tragic ending
“Are weaving piously”
Reference to religious purity
“Yet men will murder upon holy days”
Shows that he is still in danger
“To venture so: it fills me with amaze”
Double meaning - amazed to see him and amazed that he has made it as far as he has
“my lady fair the conjuror plays”
Believes in magic
“Like puzzled urchin”
Doesn’t understand the belief some women have
“Who keepeth closed a wondrous riddle-book”
Angela doesn’t enlighten him, also shows the mystery of the legend
“But soon his eyes grew brilliant”
Excited and amazed - shows the reader how much he loves her
“And he scarce could brook / Tears, at the thought of those enchantments cold, / And Madeline asleep in lap of legends old.”
Her vulnerability excites him + the possibility is exciting - he can take advantage of this
“Sudden a thought came…”
Shows the spontaneity of his plan
“Like a full-blown rose”
Sexual connotations of sexual excitement
