The sense of taste is approached in Stanza XXX and creates the impression of sumptuous and delicious foods, as Keats uses such words as, ‘candied apples’, ‘lucent syrops’ and ‘spiced dainties’. These words instantly influence the reader to imagine the variety and amount of food present. Keats uses sensuous descriptiveness in large amounts to create the desired affect of conjuring an image in the reader’s mind. He uses this rather than merely state the contents of the feast, as this would not help engage the reader as his sensuous style of description does. There is also an appeal to the sense of smell with words such as, ‘lavender’d’, creating a sense of the natural smell in the room and there is description of the noise, but also contrasted to the description of the silence, ‘far-heard clarinet Affray his ears’ and ‘all the noise is gone.’
The foundation of this poem is the contrasts created throughout. Contrast is present from the very beginning, as the intense cold of the night is stressed through descriptions such as, ‘bitter chill’, ‘frozen grass’ and ‘trembling’, compared to the warmth created by the party being held using descriptive writing such as,
‘The silver snarling trumpets ‘gan to chide’.
The use of this personification by Keats creates the impression in the reader’s mind, that the trumpets are fierce and abrasive and that they are the centrepieces to the party. The immediate sense of coldness results in the reader feeling uncomfortable but this soon strongly contrasts with the brilliantly illuminated interior where revelry is about to commence, which is appealing to the reader and therefore helps the reader feel more at ease. Later on, the coldness is also contrasted with the warmth created in Porphyro’s heart, due to his admiration towards Madeline, ‘with heart on fire for Madeline.’ Even further on in the poem, cold is once again used as a contrast, to the sumptuous offerings to Madeline, whose description ‘carries association of warmth’ containing modifiers such as, ‘glowing’, ‘golden’ and ‘sumptuous’.
Another contrast included in the poem is the binary opposition created between the old age of the Beadsman and Beldame and the youth of Porphyro and Madeline. At the end of the poem the two lovers flee to a ‘new life’, yet the Beadsman and Angela the Beldame were linked to death from their first introductions, ‘already had his death bell rung’ and she was ‘weak in body and in soul’. There are many more contrasts in the poem, all contributing to Keats’ ability to involve the reader in his portrayal of the story. More contrasts that have been acknowledged by many critics are; the noise and revelry of the feasters in the castle, against the calm and quiet of Madeline’s room; the snarling trumpets which welcome the guests against the tender chords of the lutes; the contrast of dream and reality; the Beldame’s fear and panic of being found is contrasted against the relaxed attitude of Porphyro’s in Stanza XI. The sensuous descriptions seem more sensuous than they are, due to this affective use of contrast.
Keats’ affectively uses many poetic techniques in only a few lines, to change the atmosphere and mood as Porphyro waits to be taken to Madeline’s room in Stanza XXI. Keats does this by using poetic techniques such as alliteration, contrast and caesura.
‘The lover’s endless minutes slowly pass’d’
Shows alliteration of the letter ‘s’ to emphasise the slow passage of time and the elongated words help to capture the length of wait. A sense of heightened fear is created by the caesura, ‘From fright of dim espial. Safe at last,’ as this caesura provides a slight pause before the outcome is known, creating a last moment of anticipation. Here there is also another contrast created by the previous fear of detection and the relief of reaching Madeline’s room unscathed and relatively unnoticed. Poetic devices like these are used affectively throughout the poem and Keats’ ability to use these poetic devices so well is clearly a quality of Keats’ writing.
Keats’ ability to increase the depth of communication through his sensuous writing becomes clear as Keats uses sublimation and the reader is influenced to believe Porphyro’s intentions are honourable, rather than purely sexual which is often the cynical view of today’s society, although the audience of Keats’ time would have been more romantic. Keats helps to enhance the romance and mystical aspect of what Porphyro is doing by the mood and tone he creates. Claire Newman recognises that ‘the female figure is sublimated, and she experiences a dream-like state during the consummation of love.’ This is clear by lines in Stanza XXXVI,
‘Into her dream he melted, as the rose
Blendeth its odour with the violet,-
Solution sweet.’
Claire Newman believes that this imagery tends to influence the reader to focus their attention on the sensual stimulation rather than the sexual satisfaction of the narrative. It is also clear that due to Keats’ sensual description of Madeline, including such as,
‘She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint’
Keats suggests that she is the object of Porphyro’s devotion rather than of his voyeuristic lust.
In the ‘Twentieth Century Interpretation of Keats’ Odes’, Jack Stillinger believes that many of Keats’ poems “begin in the real world, take off in mental flight to visit the ideal but finds something wanting in the imagined ideal, so returns home to the real but has acquired a better understanding and attitude from the experience of flight.” I can identify with Stillinger’s belief in the case of ‘Eve of St. Agnes’, as the concluding stanza can be seen to puncture the world of make believe distancing the reader form events, as it the leaving of the lovers is not a flight into a glamorous never-never land, but a step into the coldly real. It is also argued that a distance has always been subtly maintained throughout the poem by the narrator’s tone, creating a tension between scepticism and the will to believe, between dream and reality, the spiritual and the physical and the ambiguous nature of love.
I believe that due to the extensive range of poetic techniques used throughout this poem and Keats’ ability to use sublimation, influencing the reader’s perception of the situation, this poem is a fine example of Keats at his best. Keats recognises the importance of the imagination and emphasises the contrast, that although the imagination can ‘create an escape from reality’, it may also ‘aid the imaginative vision to transcend the human condition’.
