The Eve of St. Agnes explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Love and Loss

  The central romance between Madeline and Porphyro is shadowed by the danger of discovery and the final escape into a storm, highlighting the fragility of love.

• Dreams and Escape

  Madeline's dream vision and the lovers' flight from the castle represent a desire to escape harsh reality into a world of imagination and bliss.

• Mortality and the Sublime

  The poem juxtaposes the cold, deathly atmosphere (the Beadsman, the sculptured dead) with the passionate, transcendent love of the protagonists.

Characters to notice

• Madeline

  The central female character, a young maiden who devoutly follows St. Agnes' Eve rituals to dream of her future lover.

• Porphyro

  Madeline's lover, who risks his life to enter the hostile castle and awaken her from her dream.

• Angela

  The old nurse who helps Porphyro hide in Madeline's chamber, later dies palsy-twitch'd.

• The Beadsman

  An ancient holy man who prays in the chapel at the beginning and dies alone at the end.

• Hildebrand

  A dwarfish enemy of Porphyro, mentioned as part of the bloodthirsty family.

Key passages

• “St. Agnes’ Eve⁠—Ah, bitter chill it was! The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold; The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass, And silent was the flock in woolly fold: Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told His rosary, and while his frosted breath, Like pious incense from a censer old, Seem’d taking flight for heaven, without a death, Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith.”

  It was bitterly cold on St. Agnes' Eve; even the owl was cold despite its feathers, the hare shivered as it limped through frozen grass, and the sheep were silent in their woolly pen. The Beadsman's fingers were numb as he prayed his rosary, his breath like incense rising to heaven as he passed the Virgin's picture.

  Opening stanza establishing the icy setting and the Beadsman's pious vigil.

• “Full of this whim was thoughtful Madeline: The music, yearning like a God in pain, She scarcely heard: her maiden eyes divine, Fix’d on the floor, saw many a sweeping train Pass by⁠—she heeded not at all: in vain Came many a tiptoe, amorous cavalier, And back retired; not cool’d by high disdain, But she saw not: her heart was otherwhere; She sigh’d for Agnes’ dreams, the sweetest of the year.”

  Madeline was lost in her superstitious thoughts; she barely heard the music and ignored the many suitors who approached her, because her mind was entirely focused on the dream she hoped to have on St. Agnes' Eve.

  Madeline's absorption in the ritual and her disregard for worldly distractions.

• “Into her dream he melted, as the rose Blendeth its odour with the violet,⁠— Solution sweet: meantime the frost-wind blows Like Love’s alarum pattering the sharp sleet Against the window-panes; St. Agnes’ moon hath set.”

  Porphyro merged into her dream as seamlessly as a rose's scent blends with a violet's, a sweet union, while outside the storm raged and the moon set.

  The climax of their union, blending reality and dream, contrasted with the harsh external world.

• “And they are gone: aye, ages long ago These lovers fled away into the storm. That night the Baron dreamt of many a woe, And all his warrior-guests, with shade and form Of witch, and demon, and large coffin-worm, Were long be-nightmared. Angela the old Died palsy-twitch’d, with meagre face deform: The Beadsman, after thousand aves told, For aye unsought-for slept among his ashes cold.”

  The lovers escaped into the storm long ago. That night, the Baron had nightmares, and his guests dreamed of witches and demons. Old Angela died of palsy, and the Beadsman, after saying countless prayers, died alone in the cold ashes.

  The concluding stanza, showing the lovers' escape and the fates of the minor characters.