Keats' Linguistic Prowess in "The Eve of St. Agnes"

In reading "The Eve of St. Agnes," I was most struck by Keats' masterful use of language to reflect both the beauty and confusion of the poem's content. For example, in stanza 15, he writes, "he scarce could brook/ Tears, at the thought of those enchantments cold,/ And Madeline asleep in lap of legends old." Especially in this poem, Keats makes infrequent use of alliteration, but when he does, it is clearly deliberate and effective on the reader. At this instance, we get a soft and calm image of Madeline deep in slumber, which will very soon be offset by a "sudden thought,"which "came like a full-blown rose." The image of the rose is also used quite deliberately throughout the poem and seems to provide continuity through its many stanzas. We see it again in stanza 25, where a "Rose-bloom feel on her hands," stanza 27 "As though a rose should shut and be a bud again," and again in 36 where "Into her dream he melted, as the rose/ Blendeth its odour with the violet." These roses often appear alongside other flowers, like poppies and violets, which together reflect the happenings in the poem itself. Stanza 27 stands out to me in particular as Keats utilizes these floral images in a parallel structure at the end of the stanza. "Blissfuly haven'd both from joy and pain;/ Clasp'd like a missal where swart Paynims pray,/ Blinded alike from sunshine and from rain,/ As though a rose should shut and be a bud again." This parallelism of extremes like joy and pain seem to harken back to the gothicism that we discussed on Tuesday. Yet, his beautiful language and use of the rose image makes this stanza entirely romantic.