The Eve of St Agnes: The Beadsman

Question 1

‘His prayer he saith, this patient, holy man;’

Answer 1

• Biblical imagery –> Beadsman’s role is to pray for others for money.
• Keat’s commentary on class. the Beadsman prays out in the cold while his benefactors hold a lavish celebration in the warm with ‘plume tiara, and all rich array.’
• ‘Patient’ and ‘holy’ connotes virtue and selflessness. –> portrays the Beadsman as a Saint and pure.
• Tragic Victim.

Question 2

‘meagre, barefoot, wan,’

Answer 2

• Triple adjectives. Alludes to the age and weakness of the Beadsman.
• Cataphoric reference to his death at the end of the poem.
• Juxtaposition of Old vs Young within the poem. –> Young = Passionate, Fiery. Old= Feeble, Aged –> Keat’s commentary on the inevitablity of death. Life is a flame which is eventually snuffed out.
• Keat’s own brother, Thomas Keats, died from Tuberculosis a year before the poem was written.
• Suffering, Tragic Victim, Misery

Question 3

‘His weak spirit fails,’

Answer 3

• Cataphoric reference to the Beadsman’s death at the end of the poem.
• Suggests that his fate is decided.
• Another reference to the Beadsmans old age —> reinforces juxtaposition between Old and Young within the poem.
• Tragic hero, suffering, death, Misery

Question 4

‘Aged man and poor;
but no - already had his deathbell rung:
The joys of all his life were said and sung.’

Answer 4

• ‘Aged’ –> Keat’s suggestion to enjoy life while you can.
• Reference to Keat’s Brother who died from Tuberculosis a year before the poem was written. –> Keat’s is familar with morality and death. –> Foreshadows the Beadsman’s death.
• Pathos, Tragic Victim, Suffering, Misery

Question 5

‘his soul’s reprieve.’

Answer 5

• Cataphoric reference to death.
• Irony, The Beadsman is pious and good.
• Further commentary on class, the poor are left to die and pray for their own soul, lost and forgotten by the aristocracy. – Keat’s was of a lower class.

Question 6

‘The ancient Beadsman’

Answer 6

• ‘Ancient’ emphasises his age.

Question 7

‘The Beadsman, after thousand aves told,
For aye unsought for slept among his ashes cold.’

Answer 7

• Death of the Beadsman.
• ‘Cold’ sollidifies death and finality.
• Tragic death, Tragic Victim. Catharsis