In 1857 the title was altered from “St. Agnes” to “St. Agnes’ Eve,” thus bringing it near to Keats’ poem, which certainly influenced Tennyson in writing it, as a comparison of the opening of the two poems will show. The saint from whom the poem takes its name was a young girl of thirteen who suffered martyrdom in the reign of Diocletian: she is a companion to Sir Galahad.
Deep on the convent-roof the snows
Are sparkling to the moon:
My breath to heaven like vapour goes:
May my soul follow soon!
The shadows of the convent-towers
Slant down the snowy sward,
Still creeping with the creeping hours
That lead me to my Lord:
Make Thou[[1]] my spirit pure and clear
As are the frosty skies,
Or this first snowdrop of the year
That in[[2]] my bosom lies.
As these white robes are soiled and dark,
To yonder shining ground;
As this pale taper’s earthly spark,
To yonder argent round;
So shows my soul before the Lamb,
My spirit before Thee;
So in mine earthly house I am,
To that I hope to be.
Break up the heavens, O Lord! and far,
Thro’ all yon starlight keen,
Draw me, thy bride, a glittering star,
In raiment white and clean.
He lifts me to the golden doors;
The flashes come and go;
All heaven bursts her starry floors,
And strows[[3]] her lights below,
And deepens on and up! the gates
Roll back, and far within
For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits,[[4]]
To make me pure of sin.[[5]]
The sabbaths of Eternity,
One sabbath deep and wide—
A light upon the shining sea—
The Bridegroom[[6]] with his bride!
[1] In Keepsake: not capital in Thou.
[2] In Keepsake: On.
[3] In Keepsake: Strews.
[4] In Keepsake: not capitals in Heavenly and Bridegroom.
[5] In Keepsake: To wash me pure from sin.
[6] In Keepsake: capital in Bridegroom.
Sir Galahad
Published in 1842. No alteration has been made in it since. This poem may be regarded as a prelude to The Holy Grail. The character of Galahad is deduced principally from the seventeenth book of the Morte d’Arthur. In the twenty-second chapter of that book St. Joseph of Arimathea says to him: “Thou hast resembled me in two things in that thou hast seen the marvels of the sangreal, and in that thou has been a clean maiden”.