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Ode to

Psyche

Ode to

Psyche

John Keats1795–1821

John Keats1795–1821

Ode

John Keats

Ode to Psyche

Romantic Period

the theory, practice, and style of the romantic art, music, and literature of the late18th and early 19th centuries, usually  opposed to classicism

ROMANTIC PERIOD

September 23, 2013more

RomanticismMJPU. Classical Period - Tragedy;

Romanticism - Lyrical Ballad

THREE ROMANTICISTS:

- JOHN KEATS (English)

- PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (English)

- LORD BYRON (British)

ROMANTIC PERIOD

John Keats

John Keats was born on 31 October 1795 in Moorgate, London, England. He’s first childborn to Frances Jennings and Thomas Keats.

John Keats

Ode

Famous 1819 Odes:Ode to PsycheOde on a Grecian UrnOde on IndolenceOde on MelancholyOde to a NightingaleTo Autumn

John Keats

Ode to Psyche

Ode

Ceremonious lyric poem on an occasion of dignity in which personal emotion and universal themes are united. The form is usually marked by exalted or high moral and intellectual value of feeling and style, varying line length, and complex stanza forms.

The four stanzas vary in number of lines (irregularity)

First stanza– 23 linesSecond stanza – 12 linesThird stanza – 14 linesFourth – 18 lines

Rhyme scheme, and metrical scheme are also irregular in form.Lines are iambic, but vary from dimeter to pentameter; The most common rhymes are in ABAB However, there are unrhymed lines.

(“Hours,” at the end of line ten in the third stanza, is an example.)

Freely written ode of John Keats. Theme is love and worship.

Ode to Psyche

O Goddess! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung         By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,

And pardon that thy secrets should be sung         Even into thine own soft-conched ear:

Surely I dreamt to-day, or did I see         The winged Psyche with awaken'd eyes?

I wander'd in a forest thoughtlessly,         And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise,

Saw two fair creatures, couched side by side         In deepest grass, beneath the whisp'ring roof

         Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran                A brooklet, scarce espied:

Ode to PsycheFirst Stanza

ABAB CDCD EFGEEGH IIJJ KIKI

Wrung – to twist forciblyBrooklet – a small, natural stream of fresh water.Espied – to see at a distance; catch sight of.

Hushed – to be silentTyrian – ancient Tyre purple.Pinion – terminal segment of a wing.Bade – commandAdieu – goodbyeSlumber – To be asleep or inactivityAurorean – belonging to dawn

Mid hush'd, cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed,         Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian,

They lay calm-breathing, on the bedded grass;         Their arms embraced, and their pinions too;

         Their lips touch'd not, but had not bade adieu,As if disjoined by soft-handed slumber,

And ready still past kisses to outnumber         At tender eye-dawn of aurorean love:

                The winged boy I knew;But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?

                His Psyche true!

Ode to PsycheFirst Stanza

ABAB CDCD EFGEEGH IIJJ KIKI

In the first stanza, every line is written in iambic pentameter except lines 12, 21, and 23.

Line 12 - A brook/let, scarce/ es/pied (iambic trimeter)Line 21 - The winged/ boy I/ knew; (iambic trimeter)Line 23 - His Psy/che true! (iambic dimeter)

The full rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFGEEGH IIJJ KIKI.

Analysis:

Ode to Psyche

The speaker opens the poem with an address to the goddess Psyche, urging her to hear his words, and asking that she forgive him for singing to her, her own secrets. He says that while wandering through the forest that very day, he stumbled upon “two fair creatures” lying side by side in the grass, beneath a “whisp’ring roof” of leaves, surrounded by flowers.

They embraced one another with both their arms and wings. The speaker says he knew the winged boy, but asks who the girl was. He answers his own question: She was Psyche.

Ode to Psyche

O latest born and loveliest vision far         Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy!

Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-region'd star,         Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky;Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,

                Nor altar heap'd with flowers;Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan

                Upon the midnight hours;No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet

         From chain-swung censer teeming;No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat

         Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming.

Ode to PsycheSecond StanzaABAB CDCD EFEF

Phoebe – a Titan, daughter of Uranus and GaeaVesper – the evening star, especially Venus; Hesper

The second stanza follows strictly an alternating rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF.

The only irregularities are lines 6 and 8. Nor al/tar heap'd/ with flo/wers; (iambic trimeter)Upon /the mid/night hours; (iambic trimeter)

The result is that the CDCD section of this stanza differs slightly from the others; the D-lines are shorter.

Analysis:

Ode to Psyche

In the second stanza, the speaker addresses Psyche again, describing her as the youngest and most beautiful of all the Olympian gods and goddesses. He believes this, he says, despite the fact that, unlike other divinities, Psyche has none of the trappings of worship: She has no temples, no altars, no choir to sing for her, and so on. 

Ode to Psyche

Lucent – shining; transparentPieties – reverence for God or devout fulfillment of religious obligations

O brightest! though too late for antique vows,         Too, too late for the fond believing lyre,When holy were the haunted forest boughs,

         Holy the air, the water, and the fire;Yet even in these days so far retir'd

         From happy pieties, thy lucent fans,         Fluttering among the faint Olympians,

I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspir'd.So let me be thy choir, and make a moan

                Upon the midnight hours;Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet

         From swinged censer teeming;Thy shrine, thy grove, thy oracle, thy heat         Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming.

Ode to PsycheThird Stanza

ABAB CDDCEF GHGH

Lines are iambic pentameter except:

   Upon/ the mid/night hours; (trimeter) From swinged/ censer/ teeming; (trimeter) Of pale/-mouth'd pro/phet dream/ing. (trimeter)

Its rhyme scheme is ABAB CDDCEF GHGH.

The 9th and 10th “moan” (E) and “hours” (F) do not have precise matches to any other lines.

Ode to PsycheThird Stanza

ABAB CDDCEF GHGH

 In the third stanza, the speaker attributes this lack to Psyche’s youth; she has come into the world too late for “antique vows” and the “fond believing lyre.” But the speaker says that even in the fallen days of his own time, he would like to pay homage to Psyche and become her choir, her music, and her oracle. 

Ode to Psyche

Fane – churchUntrodden – in the same pathZepher – a gentle, mild breezeDryads – mythological nymph of the woods

Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane         In some untrodden region of my mind,

Where branched thoughts, new grown with pleasant pain,         Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind:Far, far around shall those dark-cluster'd trees

         Fledge the wild-ridged mountains steep by steep;And there by zephyrs, streams, and birds, and bees,

         The moss-lain Dryads shall be lull'd to sleep;And in the midst of this wide quietness

A rosy sanctuary will I dress   With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain,

         With buds, and bells, and stars without a name,With all the gardener Fancy e'er could feign,

         Who breeding flowers, will never breed the same:And there shall be for thee all soft delight

         That shadowy thought can win,A bright torch, and a casement open at night,

         To let the warm Love in!

Ode to PsycheFourth Stanza

ABAB CDCD EE FGFG HIHI

Line 16 That shad/owy thought / can win, (trimeter)Line 18 To let/ the warm/ Love in! (trimeter)

Couplet EE lines - 9 and 10.

Ode to PsycheFourth Stanza

ABAB CDCD EE FGFG HIHI

  In the fourth stanza, he continues with these declarations, saying he will become Psyche’s priest and build her a temple in an “untrodden region” of his own mind, a region surrounded by thought that resemble the beauty of nature and tended by “the gardener Fancy,” or imagination. He promises Psyche “all soft delight” and says that the window of her new abode will be left open at night, so that her winged boy—”the warm Love”—can come in.

Ode to Psyche