Keats's poetry is noted especially for its sensuous beauty, its descriptions, and its remarkable reproduction of the Greek and romantic spirits. THE EVE OF ST. AGNES (Page 88) Around St. Agnes' Eve, which is the night before the Feast of St. Agnes on January 21, and which corresponds to the Scotch "Hallowe'en," there grew up the superstition that a maiden could, by observing certain traditional precautions, have in her sleep a vision of her future husband. Perhaps the most common way to obtain this vision was for the girl to go to sleep on her back with her hands behind her head; then at midnight she would dream that her lover came and kissed her. This is the superstition that Keats has made use of in _The Eve of St. Agnes_. St. Agnes was a Roman girl, who at thirteen was loved by the son of a Roman prefect, but, however, being like her parents a Christian and having vowed virginity, she told her lover that she was already betrothed. The youth, thinking he had some earthly rival, as a result fell so very sick that his father tried to intercede with the girl's parents. When he found these people were Christians, he tried to compel Agnes to become a vestal virgin or marry his son. Agnes, because she refused to do either of these things, was dragged to the altar, but because here, by her prayers, she restored to her lover the sight which he had lost, she was set free by the Prefect. The people, however, tried to burn her, but were themselves consumed in the fire, until finally one of their number slew her with his sword. A few days after her death, her parents had a vision of her, surrounded by angels and accompanied by a lamb (Agnus Dei). After her canonization it was customary to sacrifice on St. Agnes' Day, during the singing, two lambs whose wool the next day was woven by the nuns into pallia for the archbishops. (Cf. I. 115, 117.) Cf. _Agnus_ and _Agnes_. [143] 5. =Beadsman.= =Bead= originally meant prayer; hence "to say one's beads." A beadsman was an inmate of an almshouse who was bound to pray for the founders of the house. In Shakespeare the word is used to denote one who prays for another. [144] 31. =Snarling.= Does this verse resemble the sound described? What is the name of this figure? [145] 40. =New-stuffed.= What does this mean here? [146] 46. =St. Agnes' Eve.= See Introductory Note. [147] 70. =Amort= (Fr. à la mort); lifeless, spiritless. [148] 71. =Lambs.= See Introductory Note. [149] 75. =Porphyro= (Gr. _porphyro_ = a purple fish, purple). Why did Keats choose this name instead of Lionel, as he first intended? [150] 77. =Buttress'd= means supported, but here it must mean protected from; _i.e._ Porphyro was in the shadow of the buttress. [151] 81. =Sooth=; truth. Cf. _soothsayer_. [152] 86. =Hyena.= Find out the characteristics of this animal, and see what the force of the epithet is here. [153] 90. =Beldame= (_bel + dame_) originally meant a fair lady, then grandmother and, in general, old woman or hag.