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January 20th– “The Eve of St. Agnes” by John Keats (1820)
Summary: On St. Agnes Eve virgin women can supposedly see their lover if they complete a ritual. While Madeline does so, Porphyro (her forbidden love) sneaks in and they flee towards his homeland.
Commentary: "At midnight on the eve of St. Agnes there were certain solemn ceremonies which all virgins must perform to have "visions of delight and soft adorings from their loves." Porphyro took advantage of this custom to win his bride." That's the description in the reading guide. It makes it sound much worse than it is.
I was sure this was going to be one of those old-timey, "it wasn't rape back then, but it probably is now," stories. It's not! While Porphyro does sneak into her room and watches her undress (kinda sketch, but thematic), he explicitly asks her to wake up without molesting her or anything! That's like, level 10 affirmative consent by poem standards! She eventually wakes up, and he confirms that he's real and not a dream. Hurray!
Besides being surprisingly non-skeevy, I was also struck by how much fun the poem is. I feel like 90% of the poetry I've read (either by choice or assignment) is depressing and/or trying too hard to be impressively deep. This is an adventure story about a dude sneaking into a castle and whisking his bride away, with some light magic throne in for fun. Why are there not more swashbuckling romance poems? There probably are and I just don't know them. Adding Keats to the list to see if his other stuff is also interesting.
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