The Eve of St Agnes A02 Flashcards
1
Q
Juxtaposition
A
- Cold ‘bitter’ weather and poverty contrasts to the the lavish party.
- ‘meagre. barefoot. wan.’ ‘The owl for all his feathers was a-cold.’ -> Even animals built for the cold are affected by it –> Lavish party exemplifies the cold.
- Age is contrasted by youth.
- The Beadsman vs Madeline and Porphyro. The Beadsman’s ‘weak spirit fails’ -> Foreshadows death.
2
Q
Moonlight Imagery
A
- The moon is a motif in Gothic literature and represents an ending. It is associated with femininity and fertility.
- Within the poem, the Moon is associated with virginity.
- St Agnes , the setting of the moon, is symbolic of Madeline’s loss of virginity.
3
Q
Reconstruction of a Medieval romance
A
- Time and Legend are key themes in the poem.
- The tense shifts from past to dramatic present tense.
- ‘His heart revives; her vespers done,’
- ‘of all its wreathed pearls her hair she frees.’
- ‘unclasps her warmed jewels one by one’
- Emotive. Focuses on the ancient legend.
4
Q
Personification
A
- ‘Carved angels, ever eager-eyed’
- Personified statue ‘eagar-eyed’ –> Anticipating chaos.
- ‘snarling trumpets’ -> animalistic and aggressive.
- ‘Music’s golden tongue,’
5
Q
Alliteration
A
- Evoke character’s passion and magical atmosphere.
- Draws attention to mystery.
- ‘full-blown rose, Flushing his brow and in his pained heart Made purple riot: then doth he propose.’
6
Q
Pathetic Fallacy
A
- Adds tension and atmosphere relationship is not peaceful.
- First line -> ‘bitter chill,’
- Madeline wakes up -> ‘the frost-wind blows’ and ‘sharp sleet’ hits the window panes.
- Harsh weather imagery continues.
- ‘Iced gusts still rave and beat’
- ‘these lovers fled away into the storm,’
7
Q
Spenserian Form
A
- 8-line stanzas in iambic pentameter
- The 9th line is an alexandrine
- Rigid, antiquity, fits the old-world setting
- Slows down the pacing of the story but allows Keats to describe the atmosphere in detail.
8
Q
Religious/Biblical Imagery
A
- ‘Like pious incense from a censer old,’ -> Ironic similie as Keats comments on the ineffectiveness of religion.
- ‘censer’ -> Religious imagery.
- ‘Purgatorial rails’ -> Biblical imagery
- The personifcation of the statues emphasise resentment towards religion as the beadsman is empathetic and dedicated while his benefactors let him freeze.’
- Yet men will murder upon holy days,’
- ‘Sweet lady, let her pray, and sleep, and dream.’
- PORPHYRO: ‘When my weak voice shall whisper its last prayer’
9
Q
Cataphoric reference
A
- ‘And his weak spirit fails,’ –> Foreshadows the Beadsman’s death, his fate is decided.
- ‘Northward’ –> Cold, least sunny direction –> Foreshadowing the direction of the Beadsman’s fate.
- ‘His soul’s reprieve,’ –> Foreshadows death and is ironic as the Beadsman is ‘pious’ and good.
- ‘Pale, latticed, chill and silent as a tomb.’-> Foreshadows deaths, alludes to their deaths when they rush into the storm?
10
Q
Anthropomorphism
A
- ## ‘The carved angels, ever eager-eyed.’
11
Q
Sibilance
A
- ‘Silver’ and ‘snarling’ -> Picks up the pace of the poem to emulate the revelry and personification which conveys the dangers that Porphryo will face in the castle.
- ‘Snarling’ -> animalistic, untameable, wild
12
Q
Tripiling
A
- ‘Meagre, barefoot, wan,’
- Dramatic contrast with the opulence of those inside the castle. –> Commentary on class divide.
13
Q
Similie
A
- ‘Numerous as shadows haunting faerily,’ –> Foreboding language, conveys how bustling the party is while foreshadowing later spirituality.
- ‘Yearning like a God in pain.’ –> echos Madeline’s yearning for Porphyo? Emphasises the music –> Madeline is fixated on the ritual.
14
Q
Lamb imagery
A
- ‘Save to St Agnes and her lambs unshorn,’ –> Lamb’s connote innocence and ‘unshorn’ alludes to virginity.
- Quotation also alludes to the tradition of blessing lambs and using their wool to make cloth on St Agnes day.
15
Q
Atronym
A
- Derived from Magadelene (St Mary) foreshadowing hope and devotion.
- Madeline is also a type of French Cake which alludes to the patriarchal consumption of women within the poem.
- ‘Porphyro’ –> Derived from the Greek word for purple. This conveys his passion and rich character. Similar to a term for vampirism which shows his sexual ways. Similar to Porphyor –> the scientific name for Vampirism, showing his sexually predatory nature.
