ODE TO PSYCHE - John Keats

ODE TO PSYCHE - John Keats

 

The legend:

Psyche was a damsel so beautiful that Venus became jealous of her. Venus sent Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with some ugly creature, but Cupid himself fell in love with her. He placed her in a palace, but only visited her in the dark and forbade her to attempt to see him, Her sisters out of jealousy told her that her lover was a monster and would devour her. One night she secretly lighted a lamp, and looked at Cupid when he was asleep. Amazed, wonder struck and agitated at the sight of his beauty, she let fall on him a drop of oil from the lamp, and woke him. There upon the god left her, angry at her disobedience. Psyche, lonely and repentant, searched for her lover all over the earth. Venus imposed various superhuman tasks upon her, which, however, she was able to accomplish, except the last. Jupiter, at Cupid's entreaty, at last consented to her marriage to her lover, and she was taken to heaven and deified.  The myth symbolizes the purification of human soul by passion and suffering.  

 

Psyche is the Greek word for the soul. Keats seems to regard Psyche not only as the personification of the human soul but also as the personification of beauty.

Summary:

Addressing the divinity, Psyche, Keats says that he writing this poem under a sweet compulsion and in order to record his feeling of affection for her. He seeks her pardon for singing her secrets in to her own soft and shell-shaped ears. He then goes on to describe what he thinks might have been a dream or an actual experience. Wandering in a forest thoughtlessly, he was astonished to see two lovely creatures lying side by side in deep grass under the leaves and blossoms of trees, near a stream, which was hardly visible. The two lovely creatures lay in the midst silent, cool and sweet-smelling flowers of blue, silver-white, and purple colours. They lay in an embrace. Their lips did not touch but seemed to have temporarily parted to renew their kisses very soon. Keats recognised the winged boy as Cupid, the god of love, but he was a little doubtful about the identity of the goddess who was probably Psyche, the devoted and loyal beloved of Cupid.  (Lines 1 - 23)

Keats addresses Psyche as the latest-born and the loveliest of all the gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus. He considers her to be fairer than Venus (the morning star), and fairer than Vesper (the evening star).  It is unfortunate, however, that Psyche was never made the object of worship in ancient times because she became a goddess too late. Describing the Paraphernalia of religious worship, Keats laments the fact that Psyche did not receive her due as a goddess. No temple was built to her; no altar was heaped with flowers; no tribute of musical composition on her either on the lute or on the pipe; no incense was burnt in censers; no priest showed any fervour of worship in relation to her or uttered prophecies in her behalf.  She was certainly the brightest of all divinities, but she came too late for ancient vows, and too late for the lyric poets of antiquity to celebrate her. The ancient people believed that divinities lived amongst the trees, in the air, in water, and in fire; but because Psyche attained the status of a divinity when the age of mythical beliefs had almost passed, she was not worshipped. The fact does not, however, discourage the poet from paying his tribute to her. He can see her even in these days, which are so far paying his tribute to her.  He can see her even in these days, which are so far removed from the ancient ages of mythical beliefs. The poet himself will serve as her choir, and sing sweet songs in her honour; he will himself serve as her lute, her pipe, her sweet incense, her shrine, her oracle, and her priest. (Lines 24 - 49)

The poet reiterates that he will himself act as a priest or worshipper of Psyche. He will build a temple to her in some unexplored region of his mind. In that region of his mind, new thoughts will grow like branches of pine trees and will make him experience a feeling of pain accompanied by pleasure. His mind will serve as a forest and his thoughts will serve as pine trees. There, in that region of his mind, will the wood-nymphs lie on the moss in the midst of streams, birds, and bees, with cool breezes blowing around. In the midst of such an extensive and peaceful region, the poet would build a rose-covered shrine for Psyche and he will worship her with the loveliest buds and blossoms of verse with the gardener Fancy can produce. Fancy, the gardener, has an infinite productive capacity and does not repeat herself.  This poet, using his Fancy, will provide for Psyche all those soft pleasures, which his brain can devise. He will also provide a bright torch in open window of the temple so that Psyche may be able to enter the temple. (Lines 50 -60)

(In the concluding stanza, Keats expresses his idea by means of an elaborate metaphor. " His mind is the forest, full of the varied beauty of Nature and myth: his thoughts are the pine trees, in the midst of which, he will build a temple dedicated to the worship of Psyche; the flowers are apparently his verses, tended by the worship of Fancy, and the rose-clad temple of poetry is to be prepared and thrown open for the entrance of Psyche. Probably by the 'fane' he means the ode which, with this beautiful imagery, he brings to a close.")

Appreciation

This Ode is addressed to Psyche, a king’s beautiful daughter with whom Cupid, the god of love, fell in love and who was, after many vicissitudes, united with him. It was only in the age of Apuleius (in the second century A.D.) that Psyche was given the status of divinity and it is for this reason that Keats refers to her as the latest born of all gods and goddesses who had their abode on Mount Olympus.  Keats emphasizes the fact that Psyche was not made immortal till the days of simple religious faith and observance were gone by and  he, therefore, deplores the fact that Psyche has never been duly worshipped.  In the Ode, eats offers himself as her worshipper. However, he seems to regard Psyche as the personification of Beauty rather than of the human Soul, which she is normally believed to symbolize. (Psyche in the Greek word for the soul.) In a letter to George, Keats wrote: “you must recollect the Psyche was not embodied as a goddess before the time of Apuleius, the Platonist, who lived after the Augustan age, and consequently the goddess was never worshipped or sacrificed to with any of the ancient fervour—and perhaps never thought of in the religion. I am more orthodox than to let a heathen goddess be so neglected.”

Sensuous Imagery:

The poem is remarkable for its concrete and sensuous imagery, which constitutes one of the most striking characteristics of Keats poetry. There is, first of all, the lovely picture of Cupid and Psyche lying in an embrace in deep grass, beneath a roof of leaves and blossoms, by the side of a brooklet. Keats imagines the two fair creatures.

                                    Couched side by side

In deepest grass, beneath the whispering roof

Of leaves and trembled blossoms, where there ran

A brooklet, scarce espied:

The Lovers lay in the midst of flowers of varied colours, We get one of the most exquisite pictures in Keats’s poetry in the two lines in which he describes with and unsurpassed felicity of word and phrase,

’Mid hush’d, cool-rooted flowers fragrant-eyed,

Blue, silver-white, and budded Tyrian ……

The use of the compound epithets ‘cool-rooted’ and ‘fragrant-eyed’ shows Keats’s genius for original Phrase-making. Another sensuous shows picture follows in the lines where the lovers described as lying with lips that touched not but which had not at the same time bidden farewell:

As if dis-joined by soft-handed slumber,

And ready still past kisses to outnumber

At tender eye-drawn of aurorean love….

Keats means that on waking up the two lovers will start kissing each other again and that the number of their kisses this time will exceed the number f kissed they have already exchanged before falling asleep.

Concrete and sensuous imagery continues in the poem when Keats describes the superior beauty of Psyche as compared with Venus and Vesper. Venus and Vesper are themselves described in lovely phrases: “Phoebe’s Sapphire-region’s star”; and “vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky”. Psyche is not only the latest-born but also the loveliest of all the half forgotten gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus. Then follows a description of the paraphernalia of worship in a temple: altar, Virgin-choir, lute, pipe, sweet incense burning in a chain-swung censor, shrine, oracle and the fervour of a priest.

In the concluding stanza, we have more of concrete and sensuous imagery. We are given pictures of a forest, wild ridged mountains, streams, birds, breezes, and wood-nymphs lulled to sleep. One of the most exquisite pictures comes at the end where we see a bright torch burning in the casement to make it possible for cupid to enter the temple in order to make love to Psyche.

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