John
Keats’ choice to write about the story of Psyche evokes the desire of many of
his contemporaries in the Romantic Era to return to the Classics. The
idealistic portrayal of undying love was a sentiment expressed in many Romantic
poems. From the first few lines of Ode to
Psyche, one can tell that Keats has a reverence for love. He begins by
humbling himself before the subject. He calls out to Psyche (“Oh Goddess!”) and
entreats her to listen to his poem that he refers to as “tuneless
numbers”. He goes further by asking her
to “pardon” him for sharing her secrets even if she is the only one who hears
(“And pardon that thy secrets should be sung, even into thine own soft-conched
ear.”) It is almost as though he holds her story in such high esteem that, to
him, it may be too holy or precious to tell.
As if deciding that it is too
important of a story to be left untold, he continues. What he witnessed what so
unbelievable, he thought that “surely” he was dreaming (“Surely I dreamt today
or did I see…”). He saw Psyche with wings and “awakened eyes.” This description
of Psyche insinuates that she was in the form of a Goddess.
According to the myth of Psyche, she
was a human who was so beautiful that men worshipped her rather than the
Goddess Aphrodite. This greatly anger Aphrodite, and she ordered her son,
Cupid, to force Psyche to fall in love with the most hideous man on Earth.
Instead of following his mother’s command, Cupid fell in love with Psyche, and
took her away to his palace. He told Psyche that she must never look at him.
However, one night, Psyche disobeyed him. Because of this, Cupid left her, and
in order to get him back, Psyche had to prove her love by completing extremely
difficult tasks. This involved a trip to the Underworld: she literally went to Hell
and back to prove her love for Cupid. When her tasks were finished, she was
granted immorality so that she could be with him. She had won it through her
unconditional love.
The poet now sees her in her
immortal glory with her lover. He describes them as “calm-breathing” as they
lay on the grass, which evokes a sense of peace. Their trials are over and they
can be together without fear of punishment. Equality is represented through the
description of their body language: “ Their arms embraced, and their pinions
too.” They both have wings (“pinions”); therefore, they are both immortals.
However, Keats points out that he has heard of Cupid (“The winged boy I knew”),
but had not heard mention of Psyche (“But who wast thou, O happy, happy dove?
His Psyche true!”). His reference to Cupid is somewhat flippant (“boy”)
compared to that of Psyche. A dove is
considered a holy, pure creature. Also, when he refers to her as “true”, it
evokes faithfulness.
After giving Psyche much praise,
claiming that she is the “loveliest vision far of all Olympus’ faded
hierarchy”, he ponders why she, though the most deserving of all immortals, was
never worshipped like the others (“though temple hast thou none…”). Because she
had missed the opportunity to be worshipped (“…too late for antique vows, Too,
too late for the fond believing lyre…these days so far retired…”), Keats offers
to be her priest and to build temple for her in his mind (“I will be thy priest
and build a fane, in some untrodden region of my mind.”) This is his way of
honoring what he views as an ideal example of love. It is as if he wants to
travel back in time to provide a safe haven when the lovers were in need of it
(“A rosy sanctuary will I dress… 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!”) - Chamblee Smith