The Eve of St Agnes

what is the tradition around the eve of st Agnes?

virgins dress up and go to bed and believe that a man will visit them in their dream and that will be their true love

why is the poem similar to Romeo and Juliet?

feuding families and the role of the nurse

complete the quote ‘Ah, bitter chill it was!’

pathetic fallacy, winter language of cold

What is the structure of the stanzas?

9 line stanzas - iambic hexameter - final line Alexandrine (12 syllables in each stress the sixth)

mention of the ‘owl’

(nocturnal predator or nature of hero?)

why is winter winter associated with death and depression

‘frozen grass’

conations of death in stanza 3

‘rough ashes’

complete the quote ‘silver..

…snarling trumpets’ (sibilance contributes to the idea that the reader will come to dislike the inhabitants if the castle)

why is youth linked to passion and heat

‘not cooled by high disdain’

how does Keats show Madeline is consume by the eve of st Agnes

‘she sighed for Agnes’ dreams’

reinforce the idea that we will not like the members of Madeline’s household

‘‘love, defiance, hate, and scorn”

complete the quote “Hoodwinked with…

faery fancy’ (reference to falconry.. Madeline unable to see past her dream… she’s deceiving herself)

idea that Madeline will be sacrificed

‘lamb’ (INOCENT)

Madeline being described with the ‘moonlight’

Diana: goddess of women and sexuality

what quote shows porphyros unrestrained feelings towards Madeline (physical) - his needs also how innocent are his intension?

‘might gaze and worship all unseen’

old age contrasting youth

‘palsied hand’

sexually suggestive language - porphyro’s voyeurism

‘full blown rose’

ideas appearance v reality, Angela of porphyro’s intension - why does she help him?

‘thou canst not surely be the same that thou didn’t seem’

Porphyro as enchanter and Angela goes from horror to accomplice - magic ritual properties

‘pale enchantment’

simile that shows that Madeline is a frightened animal under considerable strain and presented as a victim

‘she comes, she comes again, like ring-dove frayed and fled’

connecting madeline with birds (prey) as well as how her desire for a husband results in her loss of voice

‘tounglesness nightingale’