Ode to Psyche

Ode to Psyche

By John Keats

Background Information

Psyche, who’s name means soul, was the amazingly beautiful daughter of a king. People were so charmed by her beauty that they began to worship her and not Aphrodite. Seeking vengeance, she sent her son Eros, the god of love, to make Psyche fall in love with somebody horrible, but Eros ended up falling in love with Psyche. In order to still please Aphrodite, he had Psyche taken to an isolated palace where she would live with her evil husband. At night, Eros snuck into her room and pretended to be that husband. Because her sisters had encouraged it, Psyche lit a lamp and looked at Eros. This scared him, and he ran off, but they missed each other terribly. Psyche went to Aphrodite for help, but she only punished her. Finally, after Zeus decided to help Eros find his love, Psyche and Eros were married. This whole story, while written rather recently, stands out because it is the story of love falling in love.

O Goddess! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung

By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,

And pardon that thy secrets should be sung

Even unto 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:

'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!

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 globe, no oracle, no heat

Of pale-mouthed prophet dreaming.

O brightest! though too late for antique vows,

Too, too late for the fond believing lyte,

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 inspired.

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.

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 glowers, 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 ope at night,

To let the warm Love in!

Structure

First Stanza

Rhyme Scheme - exists, but somewhat irregular

ABABCDCDEFGEEGHIIJJKIKI

Random lines not in iambic pentameter (ln. 12, 21, 23)

Irregularities show laid back creativity

Second Stanza

Rhyme Scheme - regular

ABABCDCDEFEF

lines 29 and 31 not iambic pentameter

Third Stanza

Rhyme Scheme

ABABCDDCEFGHGH

lines 45, 47, 49 not iambic pentameter

Fourth Stanza

Rhyme Scheme - very regular

ABABCDCDEEFGFGHIHI

-easy for speaker to say he will worship Psyche

lines 59, 65, and 67 not iambic pentameter

Analysis

Stanza 1

Keats calls his lines "tuneless numbers" (1) to humble himself next to Psyche

He wishes to tell her what she already knows about herself

"I wandered in a forest thoughtlessly" (7) - relaxed feeling of ode

Imagery

Lines 10-13 describe forest setting and add to calm, tranquil, and somewhat sensual tone

Lines 15-20 describe outward appearance of closeness of Eros and Psyche

Imagery focuses on nature, nothing man-made

Suprise

Starts with "O Goddess!" (1)

"Surely I dream'd to-day, or did I see/The winged Psyche with awaken'd eyes?" (5-6)

"But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?/His Psyche true!" (22-23)

Knows who she is, but expresses constant awe of her

Emotion

"calm-breathing" (15), "tender eye-dawn of aurorean love" (20), "happy" (22)

All deep, good feeling emotions caused or felt by Psyche

Stanza 2

Comparison

Psyche is the youngest and most beautiful of all the gods

"Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-region'd star" (26)

Phoebe is the goddess of the moon, so Psycha is fairer than the moon

"Vesperus" (27) is the evening star

Repetition

"Fairer"

Emphasizes her beauty

"Nor" and "no"

Lists all the types of worship Psyche does not receive because she is young. However, she is still the fairest

Suprise/Emotion

"O latest-born and loveliest vision far/Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy!" (24-25)

Stanza 3

Repitition

Again addresses how Psyche came too late for vows of worship

"Thy"

Lines 46-49 narrator tells Psyche he will give her all kinds of worship

Will use imagination and creativity to do these things

Suprise

"Of pale-mouth'd prophet dreaming" (49)

Even priests are in awe of her beauty

Stanza 4

Change in beginning of stanza because pledging loyalty

Imagination is "untrodden regions" (51) where he will worship Psyche

Anything done for her will be "pleasant pain" (52)

Imagery

Lines 53-59 create beautiful place full of life where the narrator will worship and work

Gardener and priest

Emotion

Lines 66-67 love and brightness

Repetition

"With"

Emphasizes all the things we will bring to the garden to make Psyche happy

Diction

Smooth words like "slumber", "aurorean", "flowers", "murmur", "bells"

Nature words "dove", "forest", "grass", "blossoms"