For Wednesday: The Eve of St. Agnes

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For Wednesday: English Romantic Poetry

Keats, The Eve of St. Agnes

Answer 2 of the 4 questions that follow:

1. In Stanza XXVII (27), Madeline briefly wakes up but the “poppied warmth of sleep” pushes her down again.  She is then “blisfully haven’d both from joy and pain,” and protected from the sun and rain.  Strangely, the poet then likens this to a rose that “should shut, and be a bud again.”  What is happening to her in these lines?  What is a poppy, and what might “poppied warmth” suggest?  How does this state protect her from earthly joys and pains, and how might she metaphorically “become a bud again”? 

2. When Porphyro comes out of the closet, he brings with him a “heap” of food, including “candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd;/With jellies soother than the creamy curd,/And lucent syrops, tinct with cinammon;/Manna and dates...and spiced danties” (212).  Why did he bring so much food with him, and what does he intend to do with it?  If possible, read this stanza out loud and ask yourself, what sounds do these foods evoke in the poem?  How might it relate to Porphyro’s intentions? 

3. What is Madeline’s response to the kneeling, pale Porphyro when she finally opens her eyes?  Is he her “dream”?  Is she thrilled to see him?  Confused?  Disappointed?  Explain how you read her reaction through specific lines in the poem.

4. Read the closing stanzas carefully: does this poem suggest a happily ever after?  The lovers do run away together, escaping the dark castle and its foul inhabitants.  But does the tone and imagery of the last three stanzas suggest that they have escaped into a happy realm—an “urn” on the other side of the world? 


Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2015 at 7:07 PM

    Cera Miller

    Question 1
    -Poppy seeds are used to make the drug Opium, a side-effect of using it is sleepiness. So in the poem, it is almost as if Madeline is drugged. She’s “haven’d from both joy and pain” because nothing can phase her if she’s high; getting high is a way of escaping the world and what troubles you, if just for a little while. This also relates to how she is like a rosebud: a rosebud is small and closed off from the world, like it’s trying to hide or escape. Madeline is trying to fall asleep or rather escape the world of reality, and is closing herself off from it in doing so.

    Question 3
    - When Madeline wakes up and sees Porphyro she begins to cry. In her dream he was perfect, both handsome and ageless. In reality she finds him to be pale and cold. She also realizes that he will age, grow old and die. I think she is mostly saddened by this since she says “For if thou diest, my Love, I know not where to go” and at least believes that she loves him. Madeline is also a little disappointed since he was much better (looking) in her dream.

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  2. Joshua GrassoFebruary 10, 2015 at 9:28 PM

    Yes, great point: poppy is an opiate, something that lulls the senses into an illusion of bliss, but like art, it is more an ideal than a reality. She is trying to go backwards, to crawl back inside the urn instead of experiencing life as it is. She would rather have a man dance out of a vision that have to meet one herself. We see this when she opens her eyes and finally sees Porphyro: he's flesh and blood, but not the beauty of a dream. Plus, he's trying to force all that food on her! Eating is a messy, sensual delight that contrasts markedly with the purity of a dream. This might also show the distinction between a male and a female ideal of love.

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 10, 2015 at 10:23 PM

    Darryn York

    1. Madeline is asleep, she wakes up briefly and is drowsiness causes her to go back to sleep. a poppy is a flower, the seeds of a popo contain small amounts of morphine. which is why when Madeline woke up she felt drowsy. saying "as though a rose should shut and be a bud again" is basically undoing something that has already been done. and usually flowers are a metaphor for a girl losing her virginity. it's not something that can be undone, so the fact that a rose would close & bud again is impossible. although it is deceiving whether porphyro and Madeline had sex or if it was just a dream possibly.

    4. in the end they escape and as they as escape, they see that Angela and the beadsman have died. I think that does symbolize that they will "happily ever after in a way" considering Angela & the beadsman are older, it's like life and death. since they died as Madeline and porphyro escaped, it's now as if it were giving life to them.

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  4. UnknownFebruary 10, 2015 at 11:39 PM

    1. Poppy could be used as a sleeping aid, and a "poppied warmth" would be a drug induced coma that would keep her from earthly joys and pains, much the same way as a medically induced coma would keep you oblivious to the pain, and sometimes joys going on around you. By becoming a budget again, she would be starting over, and gaining a fresh perspective.

    4. The tone and imagery at the end of the poem suggest that they escaped into a place worse than the one that they left. It says that the Baron was having nightmares as well.

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  5. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2015 at 5:41 AM

    Alex Fillat

    3. When Madeline opens her eyes, she starts to cry. She was dreaming that Porphyro was very handsome, but she sees that he's not like in her dream. I think that she is sad because they are not like she thought they were but she still loves him.

    4. I think in the last stanzas, when they escape, even they leave the dark castle and its inhabitants, they don't go to a better place. I think the deaths of Angela and the Beadsman and the nightmares of the Baron suggest that the place where they left is worse.

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  6. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2015 at 5:42 AM

    Alex Fillat

    3. When Madeline opens her eyes, she starts to cry. She was dreaming that Porphyro was very handsome, but she sees that he's not like in her dream. I think that she is sad because they are not like she thought they were but she still loves him.

    4. I think in the last stanzas, when they escape, even they leave the dark castle and its inhabitants, they don't go to a better place. I think the deaths of Angela and the Beadsman and the nightmares of the Baron suggest that the place where they left is worse.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2015 at 5:43 AM

    Alex Fillat

    3. When Madeline opens her eyes, she starts to cry. She was dreaming that Porphyro was very handsome, but she sees that he's not like in her dream. I think that she is sad because they are not like she thought they were but she still loves him.

    4. I think in the last stanzas, when they escape, even they leave the dark castle and its inhabitants, they don't go to a better place. I think the deaths of Angela and the Beadsman and the nightmares of the Baron suggest that the place where they left is worse.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2015 at 5:45 AM

    Alex Fillat

    3. When Madeline opens her eyes, she starts to cry. She was dreaming that Porphyro was very handsome, but she sees that he's not like in her dream. I think that she is sad because they are not like she thought they were but she still loves him.

    4. I think in the last stanzas, when they escape, even they leave the dark castle and its inhabitants, they don't go to a better place. I think the deaths of Angela and the Beadsman and the nightmares of the Baron suggest that the place where they left is worse.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2015 at 6:09 AM

    ALBERTO LAPIEDRA


    3. When Madeline suddenly open her eyes. She was dreaming that Porphyro was very handsome, but she sees that he's not like in her dream, and started to feel disappointed and sad and she started to cry. I think that she is sad because they are not like she thought they were even though she still loves him.

    4. At the end they could escape, and realized that they died. Even thought they were able to escape, they didn’t go to a better place. After all that dies I think it made the place worse.

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  10. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2015 at 7:25 AM

    Chaz Sanders

    3) Madeline seems to be disappointed when she wakes to see Porphyro, even though she indicates that she was dreaming about him. That's because he doesn't live up to her dream. He is not as handsome, he does not sing as sweetly. He is a letdown from what she was dreaming about, and begs him to become what he was once more.

    4) I don't think this poem indicates a happy ever after. It seems very gloomy at the end. They run away into a storm, and after they leave Angela dies and the Beadsman does after a thousand prayers. The Baron is in woe, and many evil things befall the castle. I think this suggests, even though it doesn't say it, that their escape is not the ending they thought it would be.

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  11. UnknownFebruary 16, 2015 at 7:09 PM

    Kayla Bailey

    3. Madeline awoke and began to cry. "at which fair Madeline began to weep." Before this it says "Now awake the vision of her sleep: There was a painful change." Perhaps she did not see him as what she really thought. Everything looks better while you're asleep anyway. She seems upset by this.
    4. I don't think it is really a happy ending. "These lovers fled away into the storm..Angela the old dies..The beadsman, after thousand aves told.. For aye unsought for slept among his ashes cold." How is this a happy ending? The leave into a storm, which is happy how? Dark clouds, rain poring down, thunder lightening? Storms are so gloomy. Then two people die , which isn't exactly happy either. Therefore, this was not a happy ending.

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