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The Eve Of St Agnes

Plot:

1. After the feast on St. Agnes Eve Madeline prepare to dream of her future husband 2. Porphyro steals into her bedroom and hides 3. As she dreams he awakens her and she seems him in what she believes to be a dream 4. Porphyro elopes with Madeline

Context:

St. Agnes is the patron saint of young virgins. According to legend, virgins may see their husbands in a dream on St. Agnes Eve

Structure

Keats uses Spenserian stanza- contains 8 lines of iambic pentameter and a final line of iambic hexameter (an alexandrine)

Language

Sensual and synaesthetic imagery Musical imagery Colour imagery Binary oppositions Fluctuating tense- creates immediacy

Themes

Dream vs. reality Desire Young love Imagination Villains and heroes Permanence

Keats

This poem is often associated with Fanny Brawne- Keats' recognition what he longs for is impossible

The poem has parallels to Shakespeare's Sonnet 116