Ode to Psyche-John Keats

In the Greek religion, psyche meant 'the soul'; in their mythology, she was a beautiful princess of whom Aphrodite became jealous. The goddess sent her son Eros (Cupid) to Psyche, commanding him to make her fall in love with the ugliest person on earth. But Eros was not immune to the mortal's great beauty. He fell in love instead and the two became lovers, though Eros forbid Psyche to ever look upon him. Being human, her curiosity eventually made her look and it took the intervention of Zeus for the lovers to find eternal happiness.

In the ode, Keats vows to become the priest of Psyche and build a temple to her in his mind - 'Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane / In some untrodden region of my mind'. The first two stanzas are generally dismissed as 'filler' by critics and biographers, but all agree that the final stanza is a triumph. There are two primary interpretations of this work. Its language can also be linked to Keats's love letters to Fanny Brawne. He wrote of building an altar to her; he declared love to be his religion and Fanny 'its only tenet'; etc Was Fanny the embodiment of Psyche?

Form

  • started as a sonnet (14 lines-regular rhyme scheme)
  • Vary in no of lines per stanza, rhyme scheme and metric scheme-iambic dimeter to iambic pentameter
  • 1-23 lines, 2-12 lines, 3-14 lines, 4-18 lines
  • Spontaneoous rhapsody
  • Rhyme scheme-2nd stanza – ababcdcdefef
  • 3rd verse – iambic pentameter, except lines 10,12,14
  • Rhyme scheme - ababcddcefghgh

O Goddess! (Psyche – was never a goddess, but in the eyes of Keats she is a goddess because of her beauty) hear these tuneless numbers1, wrung (verses; keats’ self-deprecating reference to his work, wrung-forced composition)
By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear, (pleasant compulsion; loving memory (memory of past)
And pardon that thy secrets should be sung (forgive that the story of Psyche ad Cupid be told)
Even unto thine own soft-conched ear2: (A conch is a shell;, Psyche's ear resembles a shell)
Surely I dreamt to-day, or did I see3 (similarity between this line and the final line of 'Ode to a Nightingale' - 'Was it a vision, or a waking dream? / Fled is that music: - Do I wake or sleep?)
The winged Psyche with awaken'd eyes?(Psyche is often represented with the wings of a butterfly)
I wander'd in a forest thoughtlessly4, (roamed aimlessly)
And, on the sudden, fainting with surprise,
Saw two fair creatures, couched side by side (Psyche+Cupid lying close to each other)
In deepest grass, beneath the whisp'ring roof 5(Keats had originally written 'whispering fan' but his publishers altered it to 'whisp'ring roof', which destroys Keats's rhyme-scheme)
Of leaves and trembled(moving slightly) blossoms, where there ran
A brooklet, scarce espied6: (difficult to see, speaker glimpses but cant see the brook ahead)
'Mid hush'd cool-rooted flowers, fragrant-eyed, (sweet smelling with a bright center like an eye)
Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian7, (Keats's publishers inserted 'Tyrian' which means a purple or crimson dye because they could not define his original word 'syrian'.; the flowers affected all senses)
They lay calm-breathing on the bedded grass;(Cupid+Psyche;quietly, content on grass)
Their arms embraced, and their pinions8 too; (pinions-angel wings)
Their lips touch'd not, but had not bade adieu,(not separated)
As if disjoined by soft-handed slumber, (soft sleep, it seemed separated by soft sleep; Personification-with gentle hands)
And ready still past kisses to outnumber (position shows they were ready to kiss;kiss more than earlier)
At tender eye-dawn of aurorean9 love: (Aurora-goddess of dawn/morning; aurorean-young)
The winged boy10 I knew; (ref to Cupid:
But who wast thou(one instant doesn’t recognize the 2nd figure), O happy, happy dove11? (Psyche was not traditionally portrayed as a dove. However, Keats had read and admired Mary Tighe's 1805 work Psyche, which described the goddess as a 'spotless dove')
His Psyche true! (recognizes her as Psyche; true to Cupid)

O latest born and loveliest vision far (youngest and most beautiful of all Gods/goddesses at Mt.Olympus)
Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy! (Olympus-highest mountain in the world in which Gods and Goddesses use dto live-Greek myth; faded-dead/forgotten)
Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-region'd star12, ('sapphire-region'd star' is the moon, of which Artemis / Phoebe was the goddess; Lucifer-morning star which shines in the blue sky)
Or Vesper13, amorous glow-worm of the sky; ('Vesper' is Hesperus, the evening star; full of love; metaphor-compared to shining like a glow worm before the sun/moon)
Fairer than these(sun,moon,stars,gods,goddesses), though temple thou hast none13a, (letter to George about Psyche not being worshipped in temple-he is orthodox-offers his mind as a temple of worship for Psyche)
Nor altar heap'd with flowers; (platform of worship)
Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan (virgin-choir-pure; body of religious singers; sweet song with a hint of sadness)
Upon the midnight hours; (late at night)
No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet (all images of prayer)
From chain-swung censer14 teeming; ('chain-swung censer' is a vessel in which incense is burnt at temples)
No shrine, no globe, no oracle, no heat (temple, earth,priest who can read the future,inspirationl; oracle-holy place where God gives advice)
Of pale-mouthed prophet15 dreaming. (recurs in the last line of the following stanza as well. Consider the juxtaposition - a prophet is typically passionate and righteous, seeking to sway others to his beliefs. But this prophet is 'pale-mouth'd' and 'dreaming' - he is in a trance;proclaiming a divine message and being viewed as pale due to the excitement))

O brightest! though too late for antique vows, (Psyche-invested with divinity at a later stage-belief not so strong as earlier deities-people had already chosen their deities and were worshipping them)
Too, too late for the fond16 believing lyte, ('fond' is merely another word for devoted; by the time Psyche was recognized as a Goddess, people had started playing upon the lyre devotional songs for their chosen diety)
When holy were the haunted forest boughs, (deities resided in branches of forest trees)
Holy the air, the water, and the fire; (worship of nature was in fashion)
Yet even in these days so far retir'd (good old days gone. Change of people’s attitudes towards God; no importance to holy actions, worshippers now of a new God-God of gold)
From happy pieties, thy lucent fans17, ('lucent fans' means shining wings; Psyche was sometimes portrayed with butterfly wings)
Fluttering among the faint Olympians, (faint hint of ancient of Gods & Goddesses)
I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspired. (I see Psyche; am inspired to sing in praise of her)
So let me be thy choir, and make a moan (sing for you)
Upon the midnight hours; (let me be the host to you-prayer,song,respect, divine message, all in your honor)
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. (repetition from previous verse; let me proclaim your message)

Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane18 (temple; the speaker will be a priest to Psyche and build a temple to her in his mind)
In some untrodden region of my mind, (secret corner of poet’s mind; metaphor-just as pine trees rustle in the wing, so also his throughts on beauty and greatness of Psyche will whistle softly in the forest of his mind)
Where branched thoughts19, new grown with pleasant pain, (thoughts spread out like the branches of a tree; pleasant pain-alliteration; newly born of sad yet sweet thoughts)
Instead of pines shall murmur in the wind: (mummer-O)
Far, far around shall those dark-cluster'd trees (repetition/alliteration; all this is forest of the mind)
Fledge the wild-ridged mountains steep by steep; (mountain of raised grd and forest at every stage of the rising mountain)
And there by zephyrs20, streams, and birds, and bees,('zephyrs' are light breezes)
The moss-lain Dryads21 shall be lull'd to sleep; (dryads-wood nymphs)
And in the midst of this wide quietness
A rosy sanctuary will I dress (bright and alluring temple)
With the wreath'd trellis of a working brain, (well designed place for the roses; metaphor for imaginative mind)
With buds, and bells, and stars without a name, (bell shaped flowers, countless unidentified stars, poem in praise)
With all the gardener Fancy e'er could feign22, ('Fancy e'er could feign' means 'Fance could ever invent';Personification-imagination playing role of gardener)
Who(Gardener/Fancy) breeding glowers, will never breed the same:(unique poetry)
And there shall be for thee all soft delight (sweet pleasure/comfort)
That shadowy thought23 can win, (create; What are these shadowy thoughts? Perhaps thoughts which emerge unexpectedly or thoughts which cannot be fully understood or explained.)
A bright torch, and a casement ope at night24,
To let the warm Love(Cupid) in!25(this final line was altered by Keats from 'To let warm Love glide in' to 'To let the warm Love in'. Biographers / critics believe the last two lines directly reference Keats's physical proximity to Fanny Brawne. She lived next door to the poet and their respective windows quite literally opened up to one another; they shared a common garden. (This interpretation was also discussed above: Ode to Psyche's language can also be linked to Keats's love letters to Fanny Brawne.)