The Poetry of John Keats

Remember that all three Keats poems comprise one text—so you should be careful to mention all three, even if you concentrate more on one or two. Remember that you can do this through cross-reference and comparison, e.g. ‘The ballad form that Keats uses for “La Belle Dame” means that his narrative is far more pared down and bare in terms of imagery than in ‘Lamia” where his imagery is deliberately sensual’

The Eve of St Agnes

 Remember that again this is a narrative told in an archaic fashion—Keats uses (for instance) the 3rd-person singular archaic ‘-eth’ form, and this immediately places the narrative in a particular context—which for Keats meant everything that was romantic and interesting…

 Consider the ways in which Keats is creating a mood by the opening of the story—the frame (though it is not quite a frame in the same way as a proper frame narrative) of the old bedesman and Angela which acts as a contrast to the youth of the lovers. Remember that for Keats details like the rosary and praying to the virgin would have seemed exotic (they were specifically Catholic) and would have located the narrative in the distant past.

 Don’t forget the links to Romeo and Juliet and how this ties into the admiration Keats had for Shakespeare. Is he, in some ways, rewriting a tragedy as a comedy (i.e. a story which ends in marriage), and if so, why would he want to do this?

 How far do you think the narrative is structured like a play? Look at the way that the scene is set in Madeleine’s bedroom—almost like a stage set—by Porphyro.

 Consider also the changes of scene in the poem, and how these produce a structural pattern—from the chapel, to the hall, to the corridors, to the bedroom, back to the corridors, back to the hall, back to the chapel (with the mention of the bedesman) while the lovers escape just before the end.


 Remember that you should discuss the use of the Spenserian stanza form. What would this mean to Keats in terms of his admiration of Spenser? What does this stanza form, with its long final line, allow the poet to do that a ballad does not?

 Notice how Keats uses chiasmus (antimetabole) between the title and the first line: ‘The Eve of St Agnes/St Agnes’ Eve’ the reversal highlighting the shift from the formal title into the colloquial voice of the narrator. The colloquialism is emphasised by non-fluency features such as ‘Ah!’ which suggest the power of memory and set the poem in the past.

 Notice also the frequent shifts from past to present tense in the poem (Porphyro is often associated with the more active present tense) and the shift of tense at the end that brings the poem back to the ‘present day’ of the narrator.


Tomorrow I'll post on Lamia