Eve of St Agnes Quotes

‘Ah, bitter chill it was!’

A description of the setting— establishment of the hostility of nature that encompasses the tragedy

‘Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers’

Suffering - a Beadsman is an old man who prays to show gratitude towards his benefactors

‘heard the prelude soft’

Irony - this is a prelude to the story of Porphyro and Madeline, meaning the reader knows they are doomed from the start

‘The silver, snarling trumpets ‘gan to chide’

Hostility of the setting

‘The level chambers…were glowing to receive a thousand guests’

This is the warmth of the setting inside the castle, which is a juxtaposition to the exterior, suggesting it is separate from reality.

‘They told her how’

Idea of naivety, as she believed them blindly - error of judgement

‘her maiden eyes divine’

Spirituality, ignores other partygoers, creating an otherness but also giving a sense of potential blindness

‘but she saw not: her heart was otherwise’

Blind and detached from the physical world

‘Meantime, across the moors, Had come young Porphyro, with heart on fire For Madeline’

First impression of Porphyro— he is presented as a heroic figure braving the hostile environment of the moors. The use of ‘fire’ is synonymous with destruction, suggesting no good can come out of this relationship.

‘For him, those chambers held barbarian hordes, Hyena foemen and hot-blooded lords’

Danger encompasses Porphyro in his pursuit of Madeline, making him seem more like a tragic hero and more favourable to the reader. However, this could also be seen as a significant mistake on his behalf.

‘Mercy. Porphyro! hie thee from this place’

Angela is being a friend to Porphyro and helping him in his endeavour - agency of Angela, she is almost like the Nurse from Romeo and Juliet

‘flit like a ghost away’, ‘we’re safe enough; here in this arm-chair sit’

Whilst Angela warns him of the dangers of entering the castle, Porphyro assures her they are safe - hubris and unawareness of the danger that encompasses him

‘Angela’?

This is the name of the character who leads Porphyro to Madeline, using the gothic idea of an angel messenger.

‘Thou must hold water in a witch’s sieve, And be liege-lord of all the Elves and Fays To venture so’

This is the idea that Porphyro’s plans are impossible, but he is blinded by love so he ignores this warning (therefore dooming himself and Madeline)

‘I’ve mickle time to grieve.’

She has lots of time to grieve over the disaster she predicts will happen - tragic inevitability

‘I will not harm her, by all saints swear,’

Reader must question whether Porphyro is noble here with pure intentions or if he is deceptive

‘soft ringlets’

Idea of innocence of Madeline

‘why wild thou affright a feeble soul?’

Fear for Angela - she has essentially betrayed Madeline

‘which was, to lead him, in close secrecy, even to Madeline’s chamber’

Angela has been persuaded to help Porphyro and that he has good intentions, and is betraying Madeline

‘there hide him in a closet’

Porphyro’s deception and Madeline’s blindness.

‘Since Merlin paid his Demon all the monstrous debt’

Undertone of demise and death - tragic inevitability

‘thou must needs the lady wed, or I may never leave my grave among the dead’

Error of judgement, contrast between youth and age, Angela has committed a sin and will suffer the consequences at the end

‘The maiden’s chamber, silken, hushed and chaste’

Purity, sense that they are crossing a sacred boundary - also a sense of secrecy and ‘covert’

‘of fruits, and flowers, and bunches of knot grass’

Summer imagery of bliss— removal from reality consistent with Keats’ tragedies, that makes the tragic downfall inevitable.

‘blushed with the blood of queens and kings’

Death of people in power - importance and status is what she has to lose

‘and on her silver cross soft amethyst, and on her hair a glory, like a saint’

Idea of purity, which is about to be destroyed - she is oblivious to her fate

‘The hall doors shut again, and all the noise is gone.’

Intrusion of reality, reminder that what he is doing is quite dangerous

‘and now, my love, my seraph fair, awake!’

Disturbs her sleep and feels possessive over her - ‘my’

‘At which fair Madeline began to weep’

There is a return to reality, and she worries about what he has been doing— tragic downfall

‘Oh leave me not in this eternal woe’

Madeline now has to marry Porphyro, as he has compromised her purity, but is scared that he will abandon her and she will subsequently be ruined.

‘pattering the sharp sleet against the window-panes;’

Intrusion of reality and of the hostile settings - they are returning to the real world and the world of bliss has disappeared

‘Porphyro will leave me here to fade and pine’

Madeline is still afraid he is going to leave her. She recognises that she has been trapped in the situation and considers herself to be manipulated.

‘They glide, like phantoms, into the wide hall’

Supernatural, ambiguous fates that we can assume are doomed, the ‘phantom’ imagery is eerie and disconcerting

‘died palsy-twitched’, ‘his ashes cold’

Angela and the Beadsman both die at the end of the poem, creating a sense of tragic demise