Bits of Life 2

F-25 Words-700

away Madeline with him that very night. As she kneels in prayer,

Porphyro grew faint she knelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal thing.

A love that is more than mere physical attraction, a love that was born of spiritual union has to be truth and truth wins ultimately. But let us not miss the way that Keats has with words and word-pictures.

Soon she lay
Until the poppied warmth of sleep oppressed
her soothed limbs, and soul fatigued away.

Keats is able to negate the feeling of ill-advised poppied warmth with the positive sounding use of soothed limbs, thus conveying the thought of pleasant warmth as tired limbs relax into sleep. In a line preceding Madeline’s bed is thus described:

“Blanched linen, smooth and lavendered.”

The image that comes to our mind is that of blanched linen, which is whiter than white. Its smooth texture and delicate odour of lavender also evoke the pure and pious Madeline.

Now it is time for Madeline’s dream to become reality. Keats takes us through to the climax, we feel the magic of his poetic fervour more intensely due to visual images.

“Into her dream he melted, as the rose

Blendeth its odour with the violet

Solution sweet”



And then St. Agnes moon hath set, needless to say on the reunited lovers. The coming together of Madeline and Porphyro is beautifully realized through the mingling of the scents of the rose and violet, indeed a sweet solution and a mixture rare.
Thus in spite of sleeping dragons and ready spears, despite wind’s uproar and gusty floor the lovers fled to Porphyro’s home in southern moors, to live happily ever after. The different aspects of beauty and its elevating effect contained in The Eve of St. Agnes involuntarily prove what Keats himself has said about nature.

His words are:

“It makes one forget the divisions of life; age, youth, poverty and riches; and refine one's sensual vision into a sort of north star which can never cease to be open lidded and steadfast over the wonders of the great Power.”



It is an obvious fact that any discussion on poetic thought is inseparably bound with the sound, rhythm, diction, feeling and imagery, along with the incorporated ideas regarding life in general. The magic of Keats’ genius is beyond anyone’s appreciation. That is why even after generations since he had written, his poetry continues to hold its readers under its sway.

Most of us would agree with the following observation of a staunch champion of Keats and his poetry.

“You will never grow weary of Keats. He will enthrall and challenge and console you, he will help you explore your better nature, he will show you life as he saw it, as a vale of soul-making. You can have no better guide than John Keats. He is the best of humanity and he shows us the best of life.”

References for analysis or the famous poem I used are from the books available in our university library plus the material I collected from class room lectures of our professors. The main books I went through were,
Longer poems old and new. Selected and edited by A.S. Cairncross
Literature and criticism by H. Coombes
The Anatomy of Poetry by Margery Boulton
The elements of poetry by James R. Kruger
John Keats: Selected letters (www. English history.net/keats/letters.html

Such is my absorption with John Keats and his poetry.
I am grateful for all my teachers, who successfully and effortlessly caused me to fall in love with poetry and literature of all kinds, which includes Russian writing translated into English in the most appealing manner.
I remember my reading of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and I was lost in its depth and honesty in recording the journey of a human soul. It is said that if comes to exploring human psyche, Russian writers excel.

It certainly moved me to the roots, the way the author exposes the deeper feelings of human beings.
Among the writings of Dostoevsky, are his novella Notes from the Underground and four long novels, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed (also and more accurately known as The Demons and The Devils), and