Ode to Psyche

Stanza 1: Lines 1-23

The first four lines are a kind of preamble or introduction. The speaker modestly apologizes for the poor quality of their verse—“tuneless numbers” (Line 1). Then the verse proper begins, which the speaker intones into the “soft-conched ear” (Line 4) of Psyche herself. A conch is a seashell, so this means that her ear is shaped like a shell. The speaker may have dreamt that they saw Psyche, or that their sight of her might have been a waking experience gained through the exercise of their visionary imagination.

The luxuriant natural setting of a forest, silent and full of fragrances, with overarching, leaf- and blossom-laden branches is a fitting place for the two gods. However, the setting is less important than the manner of their interaction. The two figures that the speaker sees lying side by side on the grass are “calm-breathing” (Line 15), even as their arms and wings embrace. This is a very Keatsian idea of passion captured in a quiet, still moment: Cupid and Psyche, asleep, are caught in a timeless moment of love. At once they are together and yet slightly apart: “Their lips touched not, but had not bade adieu” (Line 17). This recalls Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” written later that spring, in which the sensual desire of the lovers depicted on the urn is captured in a moment of stillness that can never diminish.

In “Ode to Psyche,” the lovers are separated only because sleep fell upon them, and when they wake at dawn they will resume kissing. The speaker is captivated by the scene; they recognize Cupid immediately, but it comes as a surprise and revelation—as shown by the exclamation point—when they realize that the other figure is Psyche. This is a special moment for the speaker, and as the poem continues, they will explain more about Psyche and her history and why they are so enthusiastic in singing her praises. Keats had been thinking seriously for months about the soul/mind and the part it played in human development, and he was excited to incorporate the Greek goddess in his ideas. 

Stanza 2: Lines 24-35

In Stanza 2, the speaker explains that Psyche was a late arrival as far as the Greek pantheon was concerned: “O latest born and loveliest vision far / Of all Olympus’ faded hierarchy” (Lines 24-25). They are referring to the ranking of the ancient gods of Mount Olympus. In Keats’s letter to his brother and sister-in-law on April 30, 1819, he writes about his “Ode to Psyche” and includes the poem, explaining the history he is referring to:

You must recollect that 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 old religion—I am more orthodox than to let a heathen Goddess be so neglected (“To the George Keates, 14 February–3 May 1819.” Letters of John Keats, edited by Robert Gittings, Oxford University Press, 1970, p. 253).

The Augustan Age lasted from approximately 43 B.C. to A.D. 18; Apuleius, who wrote Psyche’s story, was born over a century later, in A.D. 124, and died around 170. Keats certainly knew Apuleius’s work, The Golden Ass, also known as The Metamorphoses, in which the Roman author tells the story of Cupid and Psyche.

Keats is determined to give Psyche her due, despite the fact that she came too late to be worshipped in the way that the earlier gods were worshipped. In the remainder of Stanza 2, he points out the irony of Psyche being the fairest of all the gods yet not having had the reverence of temple or altar or any of the other trappings with which the ancient Greeks honored their gods. In a reading of the poem, literary critic Harold Bloom pointed out the “sexual sublimation” present in the lines: “Nor virgin-choir to make delicious moan / Upon the midnight hours” (Lines 30-31). (Bloom, Harold. The Visionary Company: A Reading of English Romantic Poetry. Doubleday, 1961, p. 391). Bloom also claimed that the final line of this stanza—the absence of any “heat / Of pale-mouth’d prophet dreaming” of his preferred goddess—suggests “sexual suppression” (The Visionary Company. p. 391).

Stanza 3: Lines 36-49

Having elaborated on what Psyche did not receive, Keats dedicates the rest of the poem to rectifying the injustice. Stanza 3 brings the topic into the present day. Times are very different, and people no longer have reverence for nature as the dwelling place of gods. The “fond believing lyre” (Line 37)—songs sung to the lyre in praise of the gods—have long passed out of fashion. Yet, Keats’s speaker says, even in “these days” (Line 40), that they are able to perceive the splendor of Psyche and celebrate her. The last six lines of the stanza repeat, in almost exactly the same words, the final six lines of the previous stanza. But the focus has changed. Now the speaker will embody all the elements of worship that she never received. 

Stanza 4: Lines 50-67

The speaker now sees Psyche not as a goddess outside their own being but as one who dwells inside the deepest recesses of their own mind. They have not previously experienced this “untrodden region of my mind” (Line 51). It is a tranquil, expansive place, a “wide quietness” (Line 58). They characterize it with nature imagery similar to the imagery in Stanza 1 when the speaker first sees Cupid and Psyche. The difference is that the imagery has moved into the speaker’s mind, where their “branch’d thoughts” (Line 52) are the equivalent of pine trees in a more naturalistic setting.

These thoughts that are “new grown with pleasant pain” (Line 52) may suggest that human life is a realm in which the mind/soul grows to maturity through undergoing many difficult experiences. This is what makes the world a “vale of ‘Soul-making,’” as Keats describes it in his long letter to his brothers only days before he told them about his ode to Psyche (“To the George Keates, 14 February–3 May 1819.” In Letters of John Keats, edited by Robert Gittings, Oxford University Press, 1970, p. 249). The vale of soul-making is likely an allusion to the trials and tribulations that Psyche suffered before she could be with her love, Cupid. It was her road to full self-development. Keats’s speaker emphasizes again that this process is taking place within their being when they state that they will prepare a “rosy sanctuary” (Line 59) with “the wreath’d trellis of a working brain” (Line 60). This once more places nature imagery firmly within their own skull, a product of their active mind. The image is no longer an imaginative vision of a dwelling place in nature for the god but of a lived experience within their own consciousness. The soul or the human mind in its deepest, richest moments, is ready to receive and embrace love, just as Psyche embraced Cupid. From that enlightened mind/brain—imaged as “A bright torch” (Line 66)—a metaphorical open window will extend, and love, no longer facing any obstacles, will glide in.