Critical opinion of Keats's 'Eve of St. Agnes'

Critical Opinion of The Eve Of St.Agnes by John Keats Louise Acker, 12AY

Keats was born in the time of the Romantics, and as such his inspiration originated from such long-forgotten myths as King Arthur and Robin Hood. Keats also celebrated the gothic, the imaginative and the strange; inspired by Medievalism itself. This celebration can be seen very clearly in The Eve of St. Agnes, which plays with ideas of Romantic and courtly love, myths and Arthurian tales, as Keats sets up his (some would say somewhat unoriginal) chivalric narrative.
For his subject Keats chose the Eve of St. Agnes, which is still celebrated today. On the twentieth of January, the pure ‘Brides of St. Agnes’ will fall asleep before midnight and hope to wake in the morning beside the love of their life. Some critics would say that Keats is using excessive language and metaphors without purpose to mock this legend, however I believe that to come up with such emotive and powerful descriptio...