Bits of Life 2

F-22 Words-625

both physical and that of the mind, the panorama of life, its imagery and the resultant sensory appeal. The poets’ power is visible in his choice of form and diction to convey in the fullest degree what he has thought feelingly.

The Eve of St. Agnes is viewed as the perfect culmination of Keats earlier poetic style. Written in the first rush of meeting Fanny Brawne, it conveys an atmosphere of passion and excitement in his description of the elopement of a pair of lovers. The ancient form of ballad best suited the purpose of Keats and the Spenserian stanza with its eight iambic pentameter followed by one iambic hexameter that rhymed ababbcbcc further strengthened the poetic appeal of the fine poem. It certainly enhances the intensity and subtlety of meaning implied thereof.

Sometimes an ordinary experience or an event or a tale attains vitality and significance conveyed through the poet’s pen. We don’t have to deliberately go through the experience of the poet to enjoy his art. His pen invariably takes us through those hallowed corridors of his imagination and thought so poignantly that we are made to undergo the same levels of emotion and experiencing of the psychological truth as the poet himself had done at one time, at another place.

It is remarkable that Keats in one of his letters expresses the opinion, which he fully adhered to.

He said
“I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the heart's affections, and the truth of imagination. What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth - whether it existed before or not, - for I have the same idea of all our passions as of love: they are all, in their sublime, creative of essential beauty.”

In The Eve of St. Agnes Keats’ thought is perceivable in his effort to find a way to focus on beauty, here it is the beauty of love the heart’s affection from vanishing. This effort is visibly clear, when he brings in contrast in movement and sound, corresponding to the difference in content between the two lines and choice of words.

For example,
“ St. Agnes! Ah! it is St. Agnes Eve-
Yet men will murder upon holy days:”

How lamentable is the human condition, which is regrettably impulsive and impervious to even holy days! Note the contrast in word play as in murder and holy days.

The occasion of The Eve of St. Agnes is charged with religious significance. It is also a tale of love, which attains an atmosphere of devotion and trust for it takes place on such a holy day. While the devout go through harsh penance for souls reprieve maidens in love such as the beautiful Madeline brood on that wintry day on love, praying to St. Agnes to fructify their vision of delight.

The ancient beadsman and his likes grieve for sinners’ sake, and the pure maidens long for adoring from their love if their ceremonies are rightly performed. The semblance between the purity of the religious- minded and that of the lovers is tellingly brought out by the thoughtful choice of the subject. Keats thus, skillfully weaves the two elements, namely religion and love into a single strand, showing their similarity.

So we are shown how Madeline penances on that bitterly cold night for a vision of her dearly loved Porphyro who is neither of her place nor of her race. The relations between their families are so hostile that Porphyro’s arrival at the castle of the wealthy sire of Madeline is considered taboo.

“let no buzz’d whisper tell
all eyes be muffled, or a hundred swords
will storm his heart also,
not one breast affords
him any mercy, in that mansion foul
save one beldame, weak in body and