Ode To Psyche
O Goddess! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung
By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,
And pardon that thy secrets should be sung
Even into 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 grove, no oracle, no heat
Of pale-mouth’d prophet dreaming.O brightest! though too late for antique vows,
Too, too late for the fond believing lyre,
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 inspir’d.
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 flowers, 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!
Summary of Ode To Psyche
- Popularity of “Ode To Psyche”: Written by John Keats, this beautiful ode is one of the earliest ones. It was published around 1820, with several of his other popular poems in his first collection. Yet, this is not as popular as other odes of this group. Its popularity rests on its magical theme in that the poet or the speaker calls out Psyche, who is enjoying a luxurious life, and this luxury of enjoyment and beauty strikes the poet. This expression coupled with the poet’s imagination calls to build a temple for her that, has made this poem more attractive and popular.
- “Ode To Psyche” As a Representative of Imagination: The poet himself is the speaker of the poem who opens it with an apostrophe calling the goddess Psyche. He seeks her apology for having cast a glance at her during his rumbling in the forest. He states that he stumbles upon a couple enjoying themselves in the forest, embracing each other. However, they do not even kiss each other and the speaker comes to know about god and goddesses both. The speaker is all praise for Psyche, saying that she is the youngest and the most beautiful of all the Grecian deities. He is of the view that Psyche is not like other deities having no place, no temple, and even no patronages.
The speaker highlights that he is going to disclose that it is because Psyche has entered the world late, and yet the speaker pays homage to Psyche, saying that he would become her priest and that he would build some place of worship in her honor. The speaker is much enamored by Psyche when he says that this temple that he would build in her honor would be in his imagination and tended by his fancy. He widens his imagination, saying that he, however, would keep the window of her temple open to let the god enter and make love to her. - Major Themes in “Ode To Psyche”: Imagination, love, praise for beauty and love and imaginative power are major themes of this ode. Although the poet opens the ode with a bang using an apostrophe, he shows the power of his imagination and pictures the scene of the loving making of the goddess, Psyche, and a god in some forest and gives full detail of their love. He associates this with his own love and, by the end, praises the goddess showing his reverence that he would build a temple in her honor. Side by side, the poet also praises her beauty, saying that she is one of the most beautiful goddesses among the Greek deities, and that is why he loves her and loves her choice of loving a god.
The imaginative power of the poet captures the beauty of the forest, the loving making scene of the goddess, and yet she has “No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat.” This makes him think about it and he vows to build a temple in her honor in the end. However, this widening of imagination shows the power of the poet’s love as well as he says that “I will be thy priest” and then lets a window open to “To let the warm Love in.” This shows how Keats has intertwined all the themes in this ode.
Analysis of Literary Devices Used in Ode To Psyche
John Keats used various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of his poem. Some of the major literary devices are analyzed below.
- Allusion: It means to use references from society, history, or culture to stress upon the main idea. The poet used the allusion of Greek mythology, such as Psyche, Dryads, Olympus, Phoebe, and Vester.
- Alliteration: It means to use initial consonants in successive words. The poem shows the use of consonant sounds, such as /th/ in “that thy”, and /p/ in “pleasant pain.”
- Apostrophe: This literary device shows the use of a call to some dead person or some abstract idea. The poem shows the use of an apostrophe, such as “O Goddess!!”
- Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “Even into thine own soft-conched ear” and the sound of /o/ in “Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky.”
- Asyndeton: It shows the use of constant phrases without the intervention of conjunctions. For example, ‘No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet.’; ‘No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat.’ and ‘Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet.’
- Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /h/ and /r/ in “When holy were the haunted forest boughs” and the sound of /th/ and /t/ in “Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none.”
- Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “When holy were the haunted forest boughs”, “Fluttering among the faint Olympians” and “Thy voice, thy lute, thy pipe, thy incense sweet.”
- Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects different in nature. The poet used the metaphor of vision for Psyche and star for Vesper.
- Personification: It means to attribute human emotions to inanimate objects. The poet used the personification of pines as they murmur like human beings having human emotions.
- Rhetorical Question: It means to show or use a question not to elicit an answer but to tress upon the main theme. The poem shows a number of rhetorical questions, such as;
- The winged Psyche with awaken’d eyes?
- But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?
- Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as ears, eyes, roof, grass, and blossoms, to show the scene of intense love.
Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in Ode To Psyche
Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.
- Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows good use of formal, poetic, and melodic diction.
- End Rhyme: It means to use verses having matching end words. John Keats shows the use of end rhymes, such as wrung/sung and dear/ear.
- Rhyme Scheme: This poem shows the rhyme scheme of ABAB CDED in its first stanza, while other stanzas have different rhyme schemes after the initial ABAB.
- Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are five stanzas, with each having a different number of verses.
- Tone: It means the voice of the text. The ode shows a happy, reassuring and exciting, and pedantic tone.
Quotes to be Used
The following lines are useful to quote when talking about the significance of love in life.
With all the gardener Fancy e’er could feign,
Who breeding flowers, 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!
