The Eve of St. Agnes by John Keats

“The Eve of St. Agnes”: A Reworking of the Spenserian Sonnet

As the values of the 18th century shifted from formal perfection to experimentation, so did the poetry. The writings of the 19th century romantic poets explored new forms and variations of the sonnet; they moved away from the heroic couplet, which was dominant during the preceding century by writers like Pope. John Keats utilized this romantic method habitually throughout his works. In his 1819 poem “The Eve of St. Agnes”, Keats refashioned the traditional Spenserian allegory to explore sinful qualities, and personal virtues such as lust, whereas Edmund Spencer’s customary sonnet form usually expressed chivalric and Christian values. This recasting is significant because Spenser would have seen Keats’ virtues as immoral and corrupt, and Keats resents this through the poem, contrasting sins and reality with a religious dream state.

The portrayal of these acts is best represented in stanzas 28 to 30 through the character of Porphyro, who commits several of the Cardinal Sins. Stanza 28 uses mostly punctuation, (caesuras and end stops) to reflect the relationship between form and content. In the first two lines, Porphyro lusts while he watches Madeline undress: “ Stól’n tó this páradíse, and só entránced, /Pórphyró gázed upón her émpty dréss,” The first line containing 11 syllables, and Keats’ use of the comma after the word “entranced”, forces the reader to remain on the line absorbing the situation laid out. The end stop enclosing the second line serves a similar purpose, pausing for the reader to actually gaze. This occurs again in the sixth line of stanza 28, when Keats uses a caesura after the word “himself: ” and, the reader breathes with Porphyro, because one na...

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...erences to lust, gluttony, and sin in general, are highlighted throughout the poem. Keats goes against conventional values, by displaying “sinful” acts, and testing the morals of his readers. In the final stanza, the young lovers disappear, with no explanation of their fate. Keats’ beliefs are clear, but he also leaves his readers to question Christianity, and decide for themselves, if being “emprison’d” by the chains of religion outweighs the freedoms of lust, sin, and romance.

Works Cited

Keats, John. "39. The Eve of St. Agnes ." John Keats (1795–1821). The Poetical Works of John Keats. 1884.. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct 2010. .

Patch, James. "COLOR; COLORS." The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct 2010. .