The Eve of St. Agnes

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This article is about the poem by John Keats. For information on the saint, see Saint Agnes.

Madeleine undressing, painting by John Everett Millais

"The Eve of St. Agnes" is a long poem (42 stanzas) by John Keats, written in 1819 and published in 1820. It is widely considered to be amongst his finest poems and was influential in 19th century literature.

The title comes from the day (or evening) before the feast of Saint Agnes (or St. Agnes' Eve). St. Agnes, the patron saint of virgins, died a martyr in fourth century Rome. The eve falls on January 20; the feast day on the 21. The divinations referred to by Keats in this poem are referred to by John Aubrey in his Miscellanies (1696) as being associated with St. Agnes' night.

[edit] Background

The flight of Madeline and Porphyro, painting by William Holman Hunt

Keats based his poem on the superstition that a girl could see her future husband in a dream if she performed certain rites on the eve of St. Agnes; if she went to bed without looking behind her and lay on her back with her hands under her head, he would appear in her dream, kiss her, and feast with her.

In the original version of this poem, Keats emphasized the young lovers' sexuality, but his publishers, who feared public reaction, forced him to tone down the eroticism.

[edit] Plot

As the story begins, we see a beadsman perform his prayers and penances under an extremely cold weather while a revelry is taking place in the heroine’s Gothic castle. Next we learn that Madeline, the heroine, resolves to follow the superstition of St. Agnes’ Eve by retiring to her room for proper rituals while Porphyro, her beloved youth, risks his life in coming over to see her. Madeline's family are enemies of his own, but they are distracted by drunkenness, so Porphyro successfully evades them, with the help of Madeline's elderly servant Angela.

Hiding in the room, Porphyro watches as Madeline undresses for bed. He prepares a feast for her while she sleeps. She half-awakes, thinking she sees him in a dream, then the two lovers turn dream into reality by consummating their love then and there. They escape together from the house at dawn while Madeline's drunken relatives carouse. Finally the story ends with the information that the couple fled away into the storm while Angela and the Beadsman both die.