Eve of st. agnes

As Porphyro waits for her in her closet he gazes on her bed "While legioned fairies paced the coverlet And pale enchantment held her sleepy eyed. Never on such a night have lovers met-(168-70). Madeline's bedchamber becomes another world for Porphyro, a place where "spirits of the air, and visions wide-(202) hover, and the outside world seems to "Affray his ears, though but in dying tone-(260). Madeline's bedchamber becomes a warm island of pleasure in comparison to the cold outside. This adds to the fevered trance which Porphyro has lapsed into, and he soon, "Into her dream he melted, as the rose Blendeth its odour with the violet-(320-1). Madeline's bedchamber, Porphyro's imagination, and Madeline's visions all blend into a momentary haven for an ideal love, someplace distant to the harsh outer world. When they flee into the night, they seem even less of the world, "They glide, like phantoms, into the wide hall; Like phantoms to the iron porch they glide-(361-2). Their steps seem like those of ghosts, not humans, in the way that they "glide- into the night. This flight is the culmination of a seemingly complete separation from the real world, and into Porphyro's imagination. Throughout the poem Porphyro, and his vision of Madeline, nurture the fantasy of a perfect love and a perfect romance, as his ideal love grows into an unshakable obsession through the course of the poem, which draws him further from the world. This mystical romance, in Porphyro's eyes, has been presented without the trifles and tribulations of human existence. And yet there are those little idiosyncrasies present which the love-struck hero either does not take into account or relentlessly ignores. .
             Despite his outward show of groveling and worshipping, Porphyro is very calculating and somewhat devious in attaining Madeline. He sneaks into her house despite the fact that their families are at odds, and co verses' the nurse to help set up a St.