Write about how Keats uses places in telling of "The Eve of St Agnes".
by
lydiageorge (student)
LYDIA GEORGE
Write about how Keats uses places in the telling of The Eve of St Agnes.
The Eve of St Agnes opens with the place of the cold and desolate chapel, we are immediately plunged into senses; a theme which continues through the rest of the poem. There is a semantic field of cold, for example, words such as ‘bitter chill’, ‘frozen grass’, ‘numb’, ‘frosted breath’ and ‘icy hoods’ all convey a sense of chill that surrounds the Beadsman at the start of the poem. The religious setting, the tombs with their “black purgatorial rails’’, present not only a compelling visual picture but also a comfortless religion, where not even death promises a release from pain. There is no warmth in the prayers offered by the Beadsman’s numb fingers or by the “sculptur’d dead” and in this setting Keats could be suggesting towards the ineffectiveness of religion with the isolation and loneliness in the chapel. However, the gothic chapel does give the reader a slight sense of hope as there is reference to heaven, ‘Seem’d taking flight for heaven’, as well as ‘the sweet Virgin’s picture’; this creates a feeling of optimism for the poem and restores any expectations of the reader following this detached imagery.
