Ode To Psyche
"Ode to Psyche" is a 67-line poem written in stanzas of varying length, which took its form from modification Keats made to the sonnet structure. The ode is written to a Grecian mythological character, displaying a great influence of Classical culture as the poet begins his discourse with "O GODDESS!" (line 1). Psyche, a creature so beautiful that she drew the attention of Cupid himself, draws the attention of the narrator, whose artistic imagination causes him to dream of her: "Surely I dream'd to-day, or did I see / The wingèd Psyche with awaken'd eyes" (lines 5–6). As he relates himself to the mythical character of Cupid, he confuses the god's emotions with his own and imagines that he too has fallen in love with the woman's beauty. The poet does, however, understand the temporal difference between the characters of ancient Greece and his own as he declares, "even in these days I see, and sing, by my own eyes inspired" (lines 40–43). In line 50, the poet states "Yes, I will be thy priest, and build a fane", which, Harold Bloom suggests, implies that the poet himself becomes a "prophet of the soul" as he regards the beauty of Psyche and attempts to place himself within Cupid's personage. according to T.S. Eliot, it is the most prominent ode among the six great odes.
Read more about this topic: John Keats's 1819 Odes, Poems
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