John Keats wrote " I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of the imagination'. Explain this quote as it applies to The Eve of St. Agnes

Isaac Atayero

Sir John Campion

Advanced Placement English Language

April 30 2012

The Eve of St. Agnes

       Romanticist poet , John Keats in a letter to his friend wrote “ I am certain of nothing but the holiness of the heart's affections and the truth of the imagination”. In this quotation Mr. Keats is telling his friend that he is confident in the sacredness of things that the heart finds pleasure in and the reality that can be invoked by creativity. This notion is often reflected in Mr. Keats’ poetry in through his style of writing. In his infamous poem , The Eve of St. Agnes, Mr. Keats explores this theme by placing emphasis on the romantic aspect of the youthful sweethearts. The poem relies heavily on the devices of  superstition and imagination; which contributes to the vividity of the love poem. Mr. Keats is able to strategically apply this motif to The Eve of St. Agnes without taking away from the central theme of the poem.

     The Eve of St. Agnes is  a poem about a superstitious belief that claimed that if a girl accurately performed the appropriate rites on  the eve of St. Agnes, the patron saint of virgins, she would see her future husband in a dream that night. The protagonist , Madeleine, performs this rite in hopes of finding out who her ordained husband  will be in her dream that night. Unbeknownst to Madeline her paramour, Porphyro, is able to enter the castle where Madeline is undetected. Porphyro , led by Madeline’s nurse, hides in a closet in Madeline’s chamber. He plans to make Madeline’s superstition become a reality by ensuring that Madeline sees him in her dream. This is a great example of Keats’ motif because it requires not only Madeline’s heart to believe strongly in the myth but also for her imagination to be heavily involved in the process.

      Keats’ motif focuses on the ability of a person’s heart to not only be fond of a particular topic or subject but also the heart’s ability to believe in it. John Keats’ presents this theme as a truly beautiful truth of life in his quotation. In The Eve of St. Agnes, Madeline symbolizes the naive and eager heart that devotes itself to a belief and uses it imagination to follow through with that imagination until the end. In Madeline’s dream she sees her beloved, Porphyro , and she is enchanted by how stunning he is in her dream . In her dream Madeline is able to create a lionized version of Porphyro. Her eager heart , in partnership with her imagination, have created a beautiful reality for the innocent Madeline. This is another example of a person allowing their heart and imagination work together to create a new reality for them. In his quotation, Mr. Keats claims that he believes in the power of such a powerful combination.

          After Madeline falls fast asleep Porphyro leaves the closet to awake her so that she can see him and dream of him. Madeline wakes up, still mesmerized by the gallant Porphyro from her dream, surprised by how ordinary the real Porphyro seemed in comparison to the Porphyro from her dream. She is so taken back by how pale Porphyro seems in comparison to the Porphyro in her dream that she enters a dream sequence. This is what Mr. Keats meant when he wrote that he is “certain of nothing but ... the truth of the imagination”. Madeline’s entrance into a dream sequence is an example of the power of believing in the reality created by one’s imagination. Madeline, with the help of powerful magic, is able to transform Porphyro back to the idealistic Porphyro from her dream.

   When her dream sequence comes to an end , Madeline tells her charming Porphyro that she is afraid that he will abandon her, “A dove forlorn and lost with sick unpruned wing”(332-333) . Porphyro assures his “ sweet dreamer ! lovely bride !” (334) that he will not leave her by inviting her to leave the castle with him. He urges her to “ Awake! arise! my love, and fearless be, / For o'er the southern moors I have a home for thee” (350-351) . The two love birds exit the castle without causing suspicion. The Eve of St. Agnes is an excellent love poem which fuses reality and imagination perfectly. The imagery that John Keats is able to paint with his words adds to the efficacy of the poem.

      The poem’s beautiful imagery allows John Keat to be able to highlight his powerful motif without distracting the reader from the story . Madeline’s belief in the rituals of the eve of the St. Agnes is evident throughout the poem. The words which Keats select to describe the scenes provoke a stronger sense of the atmosphere of the scene in the imagination of readers. Keats writes that the only thing he is completely confident about is the sacred state of the things dearest to the earth. In The Eve of St. Agnes Keats uses Madeline’s belief in the ritual to show an example of “the holiness of the heart’s affections” .

    John Keats also discusses “the truth of the imagination” in The Eve of St. Agnes when Madeline is woken from her dream by Porphyro . Madeline creates her own reality because she is not satisfied with the reality that she sees before her eyes. Keats applies the motif in this quote in many of his works but maybe not as well as he does in The Eve of St. Agnes. Being a romantic poet, this revelation probably drove and inspired him to write many poems . The Eve of St. Agnes is an exemplary poem because in it , the writer is able to brilliantly fulfill the essence of the motif, the plan, that he had for the poem.