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The Eve of St Agnes - Coggle Diagram
The Eve of St Agnes
language and imagery
binary opposites
- the poem oscillates between a series of stark contrasts: warmth and coldness; the interior and extiror; sleep and unconscious, vigility and death
religious and celestial imagery
- Madeline is depicted as a 'saint' or 'splendid angel' and she's associated with heaven rather than earth. her 'maiden eyes divine' emphasise her virginity and this is reinforced through the personification of her chamber which is 'silken hush'd and chaste'. in contrast to Madeline's ethereality, porphyry appears more wordy and physical
semantic field of coldness
- the frame of the poem is bitter coldness: 'frozen grass', 'bitter chill'. keats creates a deathly ambience within the chapel and uses cold imagery to reflect the beadsman stony piety whilst also foreshadowing death and foreshadowing the cold acts performed by porphyry upon Madeline - unsettles the reader as it alludes to the idea of rape
bird/hunting imagery
- the 'tongueless nightingale' is an allusion to philomela in greek mythology who was raped by her brother in law, and then silenced when he cut out her tongue. this evokes Madeline's powerlessness and could imply porphyries intentions. passions are violent
structure
Spenserian stanza (Eight lines of iambic pentameter and final alexandrine) the additional alexandrine shows the pace which adds to the dream like quality of the poem
Cyclical structure - the poem returns to the imagery of coldness through the bleak depiction of 'ashes cold' in the final line which could imply that the only conclusion for love is death
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AOT
tragic hero
- porphyry could be read as a tragic hero/ idealised knight who rescues Madeline from 'barbarian hordes' at great personal risk, all for a romantic ideal
tragic villain
- alternatively, the character of prophyro could be interpreted as a predatory villain who. voyeuristically spies on Madeline when she is most vulnerable and bring about a 'painful change' that shatters her illusions and forces her 'beset with fears' to rush out into the storm. it ia unclear whether his love is chaste or whether he is motivated by lustful desire
tragic victim
- at times, Madeline appears saintly, vulnerable and pious. it could be argued that she is entrapped in the castle or alternatively, that she is a victim of porphyries predatory natrue - she becomes complicit in the tragedy as so does Linda in DOAS
AOT, key quotes
porphyro as a hero/villain
- he ventures in
- for him, those chambers held barbarian hordes
- into her dream he melted
- these lovers fled away into the storm
Madeline a tragic victim
- as though a tongueless nightingale should swell
- porphyro will leave me here to fade nd pine
- for there were sleeping dragon all around
deciet / appearance vs reality
- a stratagem (suggests porphyro is tactical in winning Madeline over
- painful change, fair Madeline began to weep (contrast between dream and reality which captures Madeline's disillusionment has she been deceived by reality or porphyro?
context
St Agnes is the Patron (special guardian) saint of young virgins. as depicted in early christian writings, she was a beautiful young girl who died a virgin martyr (person who is put to death for a belief) - this is her fate and how she was supposed to be however, porphyry disrupts the nature order due to his arousal desires.
According to legend, virgins may see their future husband in their dreams if they perform certain rituals nd routines before retiring to bed
plot summary
Madeline the daughter of the lord of the castle, pines for the love of Porphyro, sworn enemy to her kin
She has heard 'old dames' declare that she may have a magical vision of her true love at midnight in her dreams if she performs certain ceremonial rites.
Later that night, Porphyro makes his way to the castle and braves entry. He begs Angela, an elderly woman friendly to his family, to lead him to Madeline's chamber so he can solidify himself as her true love.
she agrees and he hides in a closet in Madeline's room. when porphyry decides that Madeline has fallen asleep, he makes his approach and wakes her with the plying of a flute
she is ripped from a dream in which she was with a heavenly, more beautiful version of Porphyro and is aghast when she sees the real one.
she believes for a moment that he is close to death, porphyry declares that the two should run away together, since now she knows he is her true love
the two are able to make it out of the castle without arousing sis and the poem concludes with the two characters, Angela and the beadsman, dying
vocabulary
- pious (holy) M
- piety
- chaste (virgin intact)
- ethereal (unearthly) M
- celestial (heavenly) M
- idealised (perfect)
- voyeur P
- predatory P
- disillusioned
- bleak