_
Referring
to the old legend that
Merlin had for father an incubus or demon, and was himself a demon of
evil, though his innate wickedness was driven out by baptism.
Merlin had for father an incubus or demon, and was himself a demon of
evil, though his innate wickedness was driven out by baptism.
Keats
.
.
things.
_ Her love and her hope is with the
dead rather than with the living.
l. 492. _lorn voice. _ Cf. st. xxxv. She is approaching her lover. Note
that in each case the metaphor is of a stringed instrument.
l. 493. _Pilgrim in his wanderings. _ Cf. st. i, 'a young palmer in
Love's eye. '
l. 503. _burthen_, refrain. Cf. _Tempest_, I. ii. Ariel's songs.
NOTES ON THE EVE OF ST. AGNES.
See Introduction to _Isabella_ and _The Eve of St. Agnes_, p. 212.
St. Agnes was a martyr of the Christian Church who was beheaded just
outside Rome in 304 because she refused to marry a Pagan, holding
herself to be a bride of Christ. She was only 13--so small and slender
that the smallest fetters they could find slipped over her little wrists
and fell to the ground. But they stripped, tortured, and killed her. A
week after her death her parents dreamed that they saw her in glory with
a white lamb, the sign of purity, beside her. Hence she is always
pictured with lambs (as her name signifies), and to the place of her
martyrdom two lambs are yearly taken on the anniversary and blessed.
Then their wool is cut off and woven by the nuns into the archbishop's
cloak, or pallium (see l. 70).
For the legend connected with the Eve of the Saint's anniversary, to
which Keats refers, see st. vi.
_Metre. _ That of the _Faerie Queene_.
PAGE 83. ll. 5-6. _told His rosary. _ Cf. _Isabella_, ll. 87-8.
l. 8. _without a death. _ The 'flight to heaven' obscures the simile of
the incense, and his breath is thought of as a departing soul.
PAGE 84. l. 12. _meagre, barefoot, wan. _ Such a compression of a
description into three bare epithets is frequent in Keats's poetry. He
shows his marvellous power in the unerring choice of adjective; and
their enumeration in this way has, from its very simplicity, an
extraordinary force.
l. 15. _purgatorial rails_, rails which enclose them in a place of
torture.
l. 16. _dumb orat'ries. _ The transference of the adjective from person
to place helps to give us the mysterious sense of life in inanimate
things. Cf. _Hyperion_, iii. 8; _Ode to a Nightingale_, l. 66.
l. 22. _already . . . rung. _ He was dead to the world. But this hint
should also prepare us for the conclusion of the poem.
PAGE 85. l. 31. _'gan to chide. _ l. 32. _ready with their pride. _ l. 34.
_ever eager-eyed. _ l. 36. _with hair . . . breasts. _ As if trumpets,
rooms, and carved angels were all alive. See Introduction, p. 212.
l. 37. _argent_, silver. They were all glittering with rich robes and
arms.
PAGE 86. l. 56. _yearning . . . pain_, expressing all the exquisite
beauty and pathos of the music; and moreover seeming to give it
conscious life.
PAGE 87. l. 64. _danc'd_, conveying all her restlessness and impatience
as well as the lightness of her step.
l. 70. _amort_, deadened, dull. Cf. _Taming of the Shrew_, IV. iii. 36,
'What sweeting! all amort. '
l. 71. See note on St. Agnes, p. 224.
l. 77. _Buttress'd from moonlight. _ A picture of the castle and of the
night, as well as of Porphyro's position.
PAGE 88. ll. 82 seq. Compare the situation of these lovers with that of
Romeo and Juliet.
l. 90. _beldame_, old woman. Shakespeare generally uses the word in an
uncomplimentary sense--'hag'--but it is not so used here. The word is
used by Spenser in its derivative sense, 'Fair lady,' _Faerie Queene_,
ii. 43.
PAGE 89. l. 110. _Brushing . . . plume. _ This line both adds to our
picture of Porphyro and vividly brings before us the character of the
place he was entering--unsuited to the splendid cavalier.
l. 113. _Pale, lattic'd, chill. _ Cf. l. 12, note.
l. 115. _by the holy loom_, on which the nuns spin. See l. 71 and note
on St. Agnes, p. 224.
PAGE 90. l. 120. _Thou must . . . sieve. _ Supposed to be one of the
commonest signs of supernatural power. Cf. _Macbeth_, I. iii. 8.
l. 133. _brook_, check. An incorrect use of the word, which really means
_bear_ or _permit_.
PAGE 92. ll. 155-6. _churchyard . . . toll. _ Unconscious prophecy. Cf.
_The Bedesman_, l. 22.
l. 168. _While . . . coverlet. _ All the wonders of Madeline's
imagination.
l. 171. _Since Merlin . . . debt.
_ Referring to the old legend that
Merlin had for father an incubus or demon, and was himself a demon of
evil, though his innate wickedness was driven out by baptism. Thus his
'debt' to the demon was his existence, which he paid when Vivien
compassed his destruction by means of a spell which he had taught her.
Keats refers to the storm which is said to have raged that night, which
Tennyson also describes in _Merlin and Vivien_. The source whence the
story came to Keats has not been ascertained.
PAGE 93. l. 173. _cates_, provisions. Cf. _Taming of the Shrew_, II. i.
187:--
Kate of Kate Hall--my super-dainty Kate,
For dainties are all cates.
We still use the verb 'to cater' as in l. 177.
l. 174. _tambour frame_, embroidery-frame.
l. 185. _espied_, spying. _Dim_, because it would be from a dark corner;
also the spy would be but dimly visible to her old eyes.
l. 187. _silken . . . chaste. _ Cf. ll. 12, 113.
l. 188. _covert_, hiding. Cf. _Isabella_, l. 221.
PAGE 94. l. 198. _fray'd_, frightened.
l. 203. _No uttered . . . betide. _ Another of the conditions of the
vision was evidently silence.
PAGE 95. ll. 208 seq. Compare Coleridge's description of Christabel's
room: _Christabel_, i. 175-83.
l. 218. _gules_, blood-red.
PAGE 96. l. 226. _Vespers. _ Cf. _Isabella_, l. 21, ll. 226-34. See
Introduction, p. 213.
l. 237. _poppied_, because of the sleep-giving property of the
poppy-heads.
l. 241. _Clasp'd . . . pray. _ The sacredness of her beauty is felt here.
_missal_, prayer-book.
PAGE 97. l. 247. _To wake . . . tenderness. _ He waited to hear, by the
sound of her breathing, that she was asleep.
l. 250. _Noiseless . . . wilderness. _ We picture a man creeping over a
wide plain, fearing that any sound he makes will arouse some wild beast
or other frightful thing.
l. 257. _Morphean. _ Morpheus was the god of sleep.
_amulet_, charm.
l. 258. _boisterous . . . festive. _ Cf. ll. 12, 112, 187.
l. 261. _and . . . gone. _ The cadence of this line is peculiarly adapted
to express a dying-away of sound.
PAGE 98. l. 266. _soother_, sweeter, more delightful. An incorrect use
of the word. Sooth really means truth.
l. 267. _tinct_, flavoured; usually applied to colour, not to taste.
l. 268. _argosy_, merchant-ship. Cf. _Merchant of Venice_, I. i. 9,
'Your argosies with portly sail. '
PAGE 99. l. 287. Before he desired a 'Morphean amulet'; now he wishes to
release his lady's eyes from the charm of sleep.
l. 288. _woofed phantasies. _ Fancies confused as woven threads. Cf.
_Isabella_, l. 292.
l. 292. '_La belle . . . mercy. _' This stirred Keats's imagination, and
he produced the wonderful, mystic ballad of this title (see p. 213).
l. 296. _affrayed_, frightened. Cf. l. 198.
PAGE 100. ll. 298-9. Cf. Donne's poem, _The Dream_:--
My dream thou brokest not, but continued'st it.
l. 300. _painful change_, his paleness.
l. 311. _pallid, chill, and drear. _ Cf. ll. 12, 112, 187, 258.
PAGE 101. l. 323. _Love's alarum_, warning them to speed away.
l. 325. _flaw_, gust of wind. Cf. _Coriolanus_, V. iii. 74; _Hamlet_,
V. i. 239.
l. 333. _unpruned_, not trimmed.
PAGE 102. l. 343. _elfin-storm. _ The beldame has suggested that he must
be 'liege-lord of all the elves and fays'.
l. 351. _o'er . . . moors. _ A happy suggestion of a warmer clime.
PAGE 103. l. 355. _darkling. _ Cf. _King Lear_, I.
dead rather than with the living.
l. 492. _lorn voice. _ Cf. st. xxxv. She is approaching her lover. Note
that in each case the metaphor is of a stringed instrument.
l. 493. _Pilgrim in his wanderings. _ Cf. st. i, 'a young palmer in
Love's eye. '
l. 503. _burthen_, refrain. Cf. _Tempest_, I. ii. Ariel's songs.
NOTES ON THE EVE OF ST. AGNES.
See Introduction to _Isabella_ and _The Eve of St. Agnes_, p. 212.
St. Agnes was a martyr of the Christian Church who was beheaded just
outside Rome in 304 because she refused to marry a Pagan, holding
herself to be a bride of Christ. She was only 13--so small and slender
that the smallest fetters they could find slipped over her little wrists
and fell to the ground. But they stripped, tortured, and killed her. A
week after her death her parents dreamed that they saw her in glory with
a white lamb, the sign of purity, beside her. Hence she is always
pictured with lambs (as her name signifies), and to the place of her
martyrdom two lambs are yearly taken on the anniversary and blessed.
Then their wool is cut off and woven by the nuns into the archbishop's
cloak, or pallium (see l. 70).
For the legend connected with the Eve of the Saint's anniversary, to
which Keats refers, see st. vi.
_Metre. _ That of the _Faerie Queene_.
PAGE 83. ll. 5-6. _told His rosary. _ Cf. _Isabella_, ll. 87-8.
l. 8. _without a death. _ The 'flight to heaven' obscures the simile of
the incense, and his breath is thought of as a departing soul.
PAGE 84. l. 12. _meagre, barefoot, wan. _ Such a compression of a
description into three bare epithets is frequent in Keats's poetry. He
shows his marvellous power in the unerring choice of adjective; and
their enumeration in this way has, from its very simplicity, an
extraordinary force.
l. 15. _purgatorial rails_, rails which enclose them in a place of
torture.
l. 16. _dumb orat'ries. _ The transference of the adjective from person
to place helps to give us the mysterious sense of life in inanimate
things. Cf. _Hyperion_, iii. 8; _Ode to a Nightingale_, l. 66.
l. 22. _already . . . rung. _ He was dead to the world. But this hint
should also prepare us for the conclusion of the poem.
PAGE 85. l. 31. _'gan to chide. _ l. 32. _ready with their pride. _ l. 34.
_ever eager-eyed. _ l. 36. _with hair . . . breasts. _ As if trumpets,
rooms, and carved angels were all alive. See Introduction, p. 212.
l. 37. _argent_, silver. They were all glittering with rich robes and
arms.
PAGE 86. l. 56. _yearning . . . pain_, expressing all the exquisite
beauty and pathos of the music; and moreover seeming to give it
conscious life.
PAGE 87. l. 64. _danc'd_, conveying all her restlessness and impatience
as well as the lightness of her step.
l. 70. _amort_, deadened, dull. Cf. _Taming of the Shrew_, IV. iii. 36,
'What sweeting! all amort. '
l. 71. See note on St. Agnes, p. 224.
l. 77. _Buttress'd from moonlight. _ A picture of the castle and of the
night, as well as of Porphyro's position.
PAGE 88. ll. 82 seq. Compare the situation of these lovers with that of
Romeo and Juliet.
l. 90. _beldame_, old woman. Shakespeare generally uses the word in an
uncomplimentary sense--'hag'--but it is not so used here. The word is
used by Spenser in its derivative sense, 'Fair lady,' _Faerie Queene_,
ii. 43.
PAGE 89. l. 110. _Brushing . . . plume. _ This line both adds to our
picture of Porphyro and vividly brings before us the character of the
place he was entering--unsuited to the splendid cavalier.
l. 113. _Pale, lattic'd, chill. _ Cf. l. 12, note.
l. 115. _by the holy loom_, on which the nuns spin. See l. 71 and note
on St. Agnes, p. 224.
PAGE 90. l. 120. _Thou must . . . sieve. _ Supposed to be one of the
commonest signs of supernatural power. Cf. _Macbeth_, I. iii. 8.
l. 133. _brook_, check. An incorrect use of the word, which really means
_bear_ or _permit_.
PAGE 92. ll. 155-6. _churchyard . . . toll. _ Unconscious prophecy. Cf.
_The Bedesman_, l. 22.
l. 168. _While . . . coverlet. _ All the wonders of Madeline's
imagination.
l. 171. _Since Merlin . . . debt.
_ Referring to the old legend that
Merlin had for father an incubus or demon, and was himself a demon of
evil, though his innate wickedness was driven out by baptism. Thus his
'debt' to the demon was his existence, which he paid when Vivien
compassed his destruction by means of a spell which he had taught her.
Keats refers to the storm which is said to have raged that night, which
Tennyson also describes in _Merlin and Vivien_. The source whence the
story came to Keats has not been ascertained.
PAGE 93. l. 173. _cates_, provisions. Cf. _Taming of the Shrew_, II. i.
187:--
Kate of Kate Hall--my super-dainty Kate,
For dainties are all cates.
We still use the verb 'to cater' as in l. 177.
l. 174. _tambour frame_, embroidery-frame.
l. 185. _espied_, spying. _Dim_, because it would be from a dark corner;
also the spy would be but dimly visible to her old eyes.
l. 187. _silken . . . chaste. _ Cf. ll. 12, 113.
l. 188. _covert_, hiding. Cf. _Isabella_, l. 221.
PAGE 94. l. 198. _fray'd_, frightened.
l. 203. _No uttered . . . betide. _ Another of the conditions of the
vision was evidently silence.
PAGE 95. ll. 208 seq. Compare Coleridge's description of Christabel's
room: _Christabel_, i. 175-83.
l. 218. _gules_, blood-red.
PAGE 96. l. 226. _Vespers. _ Cf. _Isabella_, l. 21, ll. 226-34. See
Introduction, p. 213.
l. 237. _poppied_, because of the sleep-giving property of the
poppy-heads.
l. 241. _Clasp'd . . . pray. _ The sacredness of her beauty is felt here.
_missal_, prayer-book.
PAGE 97. l. 247. _To wake . . . tenderness. _ He waited to hear, by the
sound of her breathing, that she was asleep.
l. 250. _Noiseless . . . wilderness. _ We picture a man creeping over a
wide plain, fearing that any sound he makes will arouse some wild beast
or other frightful thing.
l. 257. _Morphean. _ Morpheus was the god of sleep.
_amulet_, charm.
l. 258. _boisterous . . . festive. _ Cf. ll. 12, 112, 187.
l. 261. _and . . . gone. _ The cadence of this line is peculiarly adapted
to express a dying-away of sound.
PAGE 98. l. 266. _soother_, sweeter, more delightful. An incorrect use
of the word. Sooth really means truth.
l. 267. _tinct_, flavoured; usually applied to colour, not to taste.
l. 268. _argosy_, merchant-ship. Cf. _Merchant of Venice_, I. i. 9,
'Your argosies with portly sail. '
PAGE 99. l. 287. Before he desired a 'Morphean amulet'; now he wishes to
release his lady's eyes from the charm of sleep.
l. 288. _woofed phantasies. _ Fancies confused as woven threads. Cf.
_Isabella_, l. 292.
l. 292. '_La belle . . . mercy. _' This stirred Keats's imagination, and
he produced the wonderful, mystic ballad of this title (see p. 213).
l. 296. _affrayed_, frightened. Cf. l. 198.
PAGE 100. ll. 298-9. Cf. Donne's poem, _The Dream_:--
My dream thou brokest not, but continued'st it.
l. 300. _painful change_, his paleness.
l. 311. _pallid, chill, and drear. _ Cf. ll. 12, 112, 187, 258.
PAGE 101. l. 323. _Love's alarum_, warning them to speed away.
l. 325. _flaw_, gust of wind. Cf. _Coriolanus_, V. iii. 74; _Hamlet_,
V. i. 239.
l. 333. _unpruned_, not trimmed.
PAGE 102. l. 343. _elfin-storm. _ The beldame has suggested that he must
be 'liege-lord of all the elves and fays'.
l. 351. _o'er . . . moors. _ A happy suggestion of a warmer clime.
PAGE 103. l. 355. _darkling. _ Cf. _King Lear_, I.
