Extracts from an Opera
Extracts from an Opera - meaning Summary
Desire Rewards the Lover
Keats imagines a playful mythic law granting sensual rewards to lovers who pursue a distant beauty. If the Olympian gods decreed it, every effort toward the beloved would enhance her beauty and softness, while simple acts like eating wild berries would yield kisses and richer fruit of love. The poem frames desire as a journey that cosmetically and erotically magnifies the beloved through the lover’s striving.
Read Complete AnalysesO! were I one of the Olympian twelve, Their godships should pass this into law,– That when a man doth set himself in toil After some beauty veiled far away, Each step he took should make his lady’s hand More soft, more white, and her fair cheek more fair; And for each briar-berry he might eat, A kiss should bud upon the tree of love, And pulp and ripen richer every hour, To melt away upon the traveller’s lips.
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