poetry please! (for vicus and shot)(exclusively)

(and with HUGE apologies to mel)

The Eve of St Agnes (1863)
Sir John Everett Millais (1829-96)

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The subject of the painting refers to the superstition that a girl could see her future husband in a dream if she performed certain rites on 20 January, the evening before the feast day of St Agnes. St Agnes was a young Roman girl who was martyred for her faith in the 4th century. The tale inspired poems by both John Keats (1819) and Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1837), and Sir John Everett Millais produced a number of drawings and paintings on the same theme. . .
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verse 6

They told her how, upon St. Agnes' Eve,
Young virgins might have visions of delight,
And soft adorings from their loves receive
Upon the honey'd middle of the night,
If ceremonies due they did aright;
As, supperless to bed they must retire,
And couch supine their beauties, lily white;
Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire.

verse 25

Full on this casement shone the wintry moon,
And threw warm gules on Madeline's fair breast,
As down she knelt for heaven's grace and boon;
Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest,
And on her silver cross soft amethyst,
And on her hair a glory, like a saint:
She seem'd a splendid angel, newly drest,
Save wings, for heaven:--Porphyro grew faint:
She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint.

(-:
.

XXX

12 comments:

Vicus Scurra said...

I told you about the goolies, and now you're the one posting third rate porn. I suppose I will get the blame for that.
Keats? 'kin hate him round our way. Why? Because he knows 'kall about the Cortina.

I, Like The View said...

dear sweet Vicus. . . don't fret!

nobody is blaming anybody for anything

but you'll have to educate me re Keats and Cortinas tho, I haven't a clue

(oh, and BTW it's not third rate porn - well, I don't think so anyhow)(not that I know much about porn)(actually, I don't know anything about porn)(is what I've put up "porn"? I always thought porn was of a sexually provocative nature - I have shared with you something known as "art")(make of this set of comments what you will)(you always do)

katherine. said...

there is a vast difference between porn and erotica....this is erotica.

but the question is...which one is you?

(ya really think Mel won't look???)

I, Like The View said...

I do quite like the idea of "erotic", actually. . .

and that's not rude, is it? cos I don't do rude

(I hope she won't - I hope she'll look in the opposite direction for a little bit, or go for a short walk in her quacking slippers)

I, Like The View said...

oh, I forgot to answer you question - sorry

Rimshot said...

so, irrespective of Vicus' goolies (whatever that may be)...

gules as in the color red?

warm gules being, what, blood?

Romeo Morningwood said...

My middle name is Mel...
so, is it OK, I snuck a peek?

I thought erotica was a town in upstate New York? Yeah isn't that where that prison riot happened in 71? I can still hear Al Pacino screaming Erotica Erotica Erotica!

Nope, it's a Madonna song.

I, Like The View said...

Donnnnnnnnnnnnnnnyou're allowed. . . am not quite sure which song you're referring to - but perhaps that's a good thing!

Shot I didn't have a clue what he was going on about - and kind of assumed that the gules were beams. . . (altho why they'd be warm, I'm not sure)

Gordie said...

Very pretty pictures. My compliments to the models, and your choice of them.

gules is the heraldic word for scarlet - I think it's medieval French. In the poem, the full moon shines through the stained glass window, and "a shielded scutcheon blush'd with blood of queens and kings" bathes the lady's breast in warm red light.

Gordie said...

The song Donnnnnnnn can't remember is the Madonna one that goes "Bill Oddie, Bill Oddie, put your hands all over my body." (Wrong kind of tits.)

I, Like The View said...

well thank you for clearing that us

(-:

I, Like The View said...

up