Keats "Eve of st. Agnes"

Keats “Eve of St. Agnes”: The idealization vs. the reality
of love and sexuality

“It seem’d he never, never could redeem/ from
such a steadfast spell his lady’s eyes;/ So mus’d awhile, entoil’d in woofed (woven)
phantasies.” (286-288). Keats describes the strong “spell” of Madeleine’s
sexual fantasies and Porphyro’s difficulty in awaking her from them. As a
virgin, “free from mortal taint” (225), Madeleine’s dreams of love or sexual
fantasy are rooted in the idealization of an inexperienced mind. Love and
intercourse to her are something larger than mortality, characterized by the
spiritual atmosphere surrounding her dreaming that is developed within the
language of the poem by the author.
From this idealization or dream,
Porphyro brings a contrasting scene to Madeleine when he finally wakes her
through the playing of her lute. “Now wide awake, the vision of her sleep:/ There
was a painful change, that night expell’d/ the blisses of her dream so pure and
deep.” (299-301). Madeleine proceeds to weep, saddened by the reality of
Porphyro compared to the beauty of her dreams. Keats displays pessimism in
bringing focus to the difference of idealization vs. reality in terms of love
and sexual intercourse.
This pessimism is further
complicated, when Madeleine and Porphyro have intercourse. “Into her dream he
melted, as the rose/ Blendeth its odour with the violet,” (320-321). Madeleine
is fearful afterwards, questioning whether or not she will be abandoned by
Porphyro. Porphyro does not leave her however, he instead brings her with him,
as the two escape into the night, gliding away into the storm “like phantoms”
(361).
After
displaying a contrast between the idealization and lesser reality of love and
sexuality, Keats depicts the two having intercourse, then fleeing away into the
night. By describing them as phantoms, Keats places them both within the realm
of the dream or the supernatural. The author asserts then, that while a
division between the idealization and the reality of love and sexuality exists,
it is possible for the two to coexist, as he depicts elements of the dream transcending
into reality.