NOTE: Try to read the entire poem for Wednesady,
though I will only focus on the first half of the poem below and in our class
discussion. Remember, even though this
poem tells a story, don’t get dazzled by the plot; look for the metaphors and
how the poem expresses some of the ideas about life, love, beauty, Nature, and
art that we saw in Keats’ other poem, “ Ode on a Grecian Urn” and Wordsworth’s “Ode.”
Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: What is the general tone of this poem? How does Keats create an overall mood through
his descriptions/metaphors of the castle and the people in it? In other words, if this were a song (and all
poetry is closely related to music), what kind of song would it be?
Q2: In
Stanza 2, the Beadsman studies the statues of dead noblemen and women in the
same way that Keats studied the urn in “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” However, how do these works of art inspire a
different reaction in the priest? What
does he see/feel when he looks into their eyes?
Consider, too, that the tomb statues and the urn both have associations
with death.
Q3: In Stanzas 5-8, how is Madeline like one of the
figures on the urn? What makes her
divorced from time and the living world?
What does she “see” during that evening’s festivities that others do
not?
Q4: In Stanza 9, Keats writes that Porphyro
“implores/All saints to give him sight of Madeline,/But for one moment in the
tedious hours,/That he might gaze and worship all unseen;/Perchance speak,
kneel, touch, kiss—in sooth such things have been” (207). Is this romantic or disturbing? Does this sound like a good beginning for a
“Romeo and Juliet” narrative of love?
Elyse Marquardt
ReplyDeleteQ1: Keats paints a very dismal picture of this castle. We do not get an up-close and personal look at the people who dwell in it, but instead we receive an objective description of the general attitude that hovers over the place. We are being shown an emotion rather than a group of people. This would probably be like an emo love song in my opinion, for the general theme is one of dark mystery and longing desires (such as those of the wooing swains in stanza VII). All poetry speaks to people in different ways, and this is how this poem has struck me.
Q4: Porphyro's wish to hold Madeline is romantic at first, but once the question arose of whether it was disturbing, I certainly started to see that aspect as well. I have never liked "Romeo and Juliet," since Romeo is a slightly creepy man with an irrationally wild crush on a young teenage girl. Here we have Porphyro creeping across the moors and waiting beside the door of this young girl's house in the middle of the night. Madeline could easily come out of her balcony door and begin reciting Juliet's "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo."
Elyse Marquardt
3.) Madeline sees the world for what it is far more than the others around her. She sees the look of hatred upon others faces for a cause that she does not see the need for hatred to be in. She understands that the time they spend celebrating Agnes should be used for the hope of change, but everyone else does not and Madeline realizes this attribute in others: they are still scornful even when celebrating a Martyr, because Madeline has become quite similar to St. Agnes. This is because Madeline - a sought after young woman - is devoted to someone that others do not think she should be so devoted to (Porphyro). This is much like St. Agnes who was so steadfastly devoted to God as her only Spouse even when others threatened her life if she did not denounce her Christian faith - which was, ultimately, her demise. The men are then trying adamantly to sway Madeline to be theirs or to stop following her love for Porphyro. However, she is not moved and would rather not enjoy the presence of any of them (would rather face death) than to betray the love she holds for him.
ReplyDelete4.) While Porphyro's wishes do seem disturbing initially, there is definitely something more to his wishes. He is almost painfully in love with Madeline, and the notion does become very Romeo and Juliet-esque. Porphyro cannot help the way he feels about Madeline, despite these feelings and desires being entirely taboo. The act of creeping around does come across quite disturbingly, but it almost seems as though Porphyro (much like Romeo) did not have a choice in the matter. Had he been more outward about his feelings, taken these steps in broad daylight, or been more conspicuous in any of his actions, there is a chance that he could have been caught and killed - and this could also potentially lead to Madeline's death.
1.) I feel like the general tone of this poem is pretty dark. I think it does maybe lighten up a little bit as you read more of the poem though. The lines, “The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass,/And silent was the flock in wolly fold” presents a cold and dark tone within the poem. Words like trembling and frozen really evoke the weird and dark underworld almost. It kind of reminds me of a Panic! At the Disco song. The characters are always interesting and it has that sort of have that emo feel to them. They’re also packed with emotion kind of like this poem.
ReplyDelete4.) I fell like this is kinda creepy in a romantic way. Yeah, he’s worshiping her from afar, but it’s nothing we do not do to celebrities in todays time. It does seem a tad bit stalkerish. It is beautiful how he admires her from afar though. It does sound like a twisted “Romeo and Juliet” in the sense that he falls so quickly. It’s almost like the world is even for this love because “All saints to give him sight of Madeline” (207) making it seem that unnatural forces are bringing them together. Kind of like how Romeo and Juliet just fell for each other even though they weren’t suppose to. It’s a very interesting thought.
Ashley Bean
ReplyDelete1. The first stanza is littered with coldness and distance. The hare was cold, even the owl was cold, and the priest's breath floated away. This sets up a dark and distant tone in the beginning, this does not put off a warm, fuzzy feeling poem of love, happiness, and joy. It really reminds me of a song by the band "Ludo" though I can't remember the name of it. But a lot of their songs are love songs with a dark twist of some sort, so it reminds me of that.
4. It's very creepy, but for some reason girls liked to be creeped on (as long as the creeper is attractive) so I guess it could be viewed as romantic. So many love stories are depicted this way, with the male creeping on the female, much like in "Romeo and Juliet." It would make a good introduction to R&J, since that's kind of the vibe you get from Romeo.
Q2: The Priest literally feels their aching and groaning. The lines in stanza II, "the sculptured dead, on each side, seem to freeze/ Emprison'd in black, purgatorial rails:/ He passeth by; and his weak spirit fails/ To think how they may ache in icy hoods and mails," indicate a type of sympathy. He feels these noble religious figures have been imprisoned forever by the weight of the world's sin, as has he. Instead of joining the others, the priest is left to "all night kept awake, for sinners' sake to grieve" (stanza III). Just the few lines in which I spent with the priest left me feeling sad that this is all his life had amounted to. He never found the love, enjoyment, or excitement of Madeline or Porphyro.
ReplyDeleteQ3: Madeline is distanced by her hope for a dream from St. Agnes: "But she saw not: her heart was otherwhere:/ She sigh'd for Agnes' dreams, the sweetest of the year." While others are focused on music and socialization, she is more concerned with the sublime experience of "...visions of delight,/ And soft ado rings from their loves receive/ Upon the honey'd middle of the night..." (stanza VI). She is, in a way, like the priest. Madeline sits on the sidelines and follows the rules of St. Agnes' Eve so she may receive the Saint's blessings.
2) The priest has a completely different reaction to the dead than the speaker of "Ode on a Grecian Urn". The priest does not see anything spectacular, when he looks at the statues. Everything seems to stand still, which is how the urn was, also. The urn seemed to come to life for the speaker. Yes, it was stuck in one moment of time, but the speaker imagined the figures coming to life and the story they lived through every day, on the urn. In "The Eve of St. Agnes" the priest appreciates the statues and who they used to be, but he sees them as "Emprison'd in black, purgatorial rails". The priest has a much less beautiful image of the dead, compared to the speaker in "Ode on a Grecian Urn". The priest sees what the statues used to be- Knights and ladies, but he also feels sad for them, now.
ReplyDelete4) It is a little disturbing, but it's also got a touch of romance. Porphyro definitely creeps on Madeline, though. It's the typical young love story. Young people "fall in love" at the drop of a hat (or the sight of a handsome boy or beautiful girl). It sounds much like a "Romeo and Juliet" story, especially because Madeline and Porphyro's families do not like each other.
Q1. The poem feels cold imediately. Cold and dark but not without invoking a little bit of nature. He talks about grass and heaven and death all in the first stanza. The first stanza set the tone for the entire poem so even though it seems to lighten up you still feel kind of cold from it. I personally listen to a lot of metal, but if it were a song it would be the one song on the album that has more instrumentals than vocals and what vocals it does have are very melodic and not at all like the general metal song. You listen to the whole song waiting for a break down but it just calmly keeps going with almost spoken-word lyrics.
ReplyDeleteQ4. Romantic? Maybe if you don't read too deeply into it. It's creepy but Romeo and Juliet is creepy too, so maybe they have more in common than I realized. I think romance is what Keats was going for with this gothic theme.
Karlyn Hedges
ReplyDeleteQ3. Madeline is frozen like the figures on the urn. She is "dead" in the sense that everyone around her is lively, but she's quiet, alone in prayer, trying to be like a saint in the hopes that if she does it right, her husband will be revealed to her.
Q4. I personally find it disturbing--who wants to just stare at a girl while she sleeps? But I also see the romantic side of it. He wants her so badly that he will take anything he can get. He hardly dares to hope for more than just the privilege to see her, but he does let himself dream a little bit. However, he quickly pulls himself back to reality before he gets too carried away. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet because, like Romeo, Porphyro is desperate and will do anything he can to be with the girl he loves (or thinks he loves). Overall though, I don't think it's really romantic, I think it's unhealthy for both Madeline and Porphyro.
Q1: There is a rather ominous tone to this poem, as if something just isn’t quite right. Keats immediately catches us off guard with dark and disturbing imagery which makes most people go “Oh no, someone is going to die by the end of this and it is not going to pretty.” Madeline is such a dead character that I’m not even entirely sure how to feel about her, though I am a little worried for her. Porphyro needs therapy and a restraining order. Everyone else is background noise. I don’t really form a connection with any character in this poem, so I don’t get to fool myself into not being quite so freaked out by looking through rose-tinted glasses. Then Keats threw in six different brands of ridiculousness along with his mildly disturbing cast and long story short: if this were a song, it would be that song that creeps you out, makes you laugh, and finishes you off by making you feel bad for laughing.
ReplyDeleteQ4: Just about everything about Porphyro that I have seen so far has been disturbing, but what he says in this stanza is not that different from how the story of Romeo and Juliet started (Of course, look how many people that ship took with it when it sank.). In fact, despite my own misgivings I might even called it romantic in a twisted kind of way. By loving and worshipping Madeline from afar, he wasn’t imposing her love on her. However, Porphyro is quickly crossing that line and this tragedy may take a dreadful turn.
Q1: The overall tone of this poem is dark and cold. Keats achieves this tone by using words and phrases such as "bitter chill", numb, frosted, icy, black, ect. If this were a song, it would be a hardcore metal song. Most of those songs have deep, yet dark and creepy lyrics, which I think fits this poem perfectly.
ReplyDeleteQ2: The Beadsman looks at the "sculptur'd dead" and his "weak spirit fails" because he feels bad for them, but is also scared of them because he knows they were not very good people while they were alive. Therefore, he doesnt know where they ended up. Their sculptures are just reminders to him that they are dead and stuck in purgatory forever... never changing. They will be in ice cold black stone for eternity.The priest is not jealous of them like the man in the "Ode To The Grecian Urn", but instead feels pity and fear for, and of, them.