John Collick, in his article “Desire on the ‘The Eve of St Agnes’”, explores the idea of language and symbolism of desire in the poem ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ by John Keats. Collick holds the notion that Keats was a Romantic Era poet who viewed life as a pessimist and vicariously exemplified that in his works. Throughout his article, Collick critiques Keats’ ambiguity. Keats is known as ‘a poet concerned with dreams, visions, and images…’ (Collick) however in ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ it 's quite odd that Keats uses very distinct visual and sensual imagery for the reader. Collick argues that this diversion from his typical ambiguity ‘destroys the transcendent atmosphere’. Collick also brings to light the political undertone the linguistics of the
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‘The Eve of St Agnes’ was set in the Gothic, medieval period, yet the names Keats uses are out of date. Hildebrand, Maurice, and Porphyro according to Keats are German, French and Latin, respectively. Arguably, Collick bringing attention to the names of characters serves no benefit in the advancement of his writing, and does not aid in proving his point. He fails to mention the significance of the name Madeline. In class lecture we discussed the potential allusion of the name Madeline, stemming from Mary Magdalene, which also did not originate from a European name but actually from the Sea of Galilee. Additionally, he completely misses talking about Angela, which in fact is a European stemming name. Although Keats may not have chosen the right names, his visual stimuli create a gothic style poem. For instance, his focus on the stained glass window in Stanza 24 not only alludes to the whole family crest and honor idea but plays a role in describing this beautiful castle “diamonded with panes of quaint device,/ Innumerable of stains and splendid dyes (‘The Eve of St Agnes’, 211-12). Another rolling theme which we see near the start and end of the poem is the presence of cold. These references not only allude to death, but could be an indication of the dark, gothic setting. Collick here attempts to argue the lack of attention Keats plays in setting the proper timeline, however he does not take into the consideration other aspects of the
‘The Eve of St Agnes’ was set in the Gothic, medieval period, yet the names Keats uses are out of date. Hildebrand, Maurice, and Porphyro according to Keats are German, French and Latin, respectively. Arguably, Collick bringing attention to the names of characters serves no benefit in the advancement of his writing, and does not aid in proving his point. He fails to mention the significance of the name Madeline. In class lecture we discussed the potential allusion of the name Madeline, stemming from Mary Magdalene, which also did not originate from a European name but actually from the Sea of Galilee. Additionally, he completely misses talking about Angela, which in fact is a European stemming name. Although Keats may not have chosen the right names, his visual stimuli create a gothic style poem. For instance, his focus on the stained glass window in Stanza 24 not only alludes to the whole family crest and honor idea but plays a role in describing this beautiful castle “diamonded with panes of quaint device,/ Innumerable of stains and splendid dyes (‘The Eve of St Agnes’, 211-12). Another rolling theme which we see near the start and end of the poem is the presence of cold. These references not only allude to death, but could be an indication of the dark, gothic setting. Collick here attempts to argue the lack of attention Keats plays in setting the proper timeline, however he does not take into the consideration other aspects of the