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How is “The Eve of St. Agnes” structured?
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John Keats
John Keats, drawing by Joseph Severn, 19th century.
John Keats’s poem "The Eve of St. Agnes" is structured using the Spenserian stanza.
This verse form consists of nine lines per stanza, organized as follows:
- Lines 1–8: Written in iambic pentameter.
- Line 9: An alexandrine, which is a line consisting of six iambic feet.
- Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the pattern ababbcbcc.
The first eight lines establish a sense of formal unity, while the final hexameter line serves to complete the thought of the stanza.1