• Source: The Eve of Saint Mark (poem)

The Eve of Saint (St.) Mark is an English language poem by John Keats. It was left unfinished in 1819. It is related to his earlier poem written in the same year, The Eve of Saint Agnes.




Legend



St. Mark's Eve falls on April 24, the day before the feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist. In northern English folklore, it was believed that if a person took up watch in the church porch on St. Mark's Eve one would see the spectres of those destined to die during the year pass into the church.
Keats also mentions the legend in his fairy story, the Cap and Bells; here too, the young woman is named Bertha.




Poem


Keats wrote this poem in February 1819, after The Eve of Saint Agnes but before La Belle Dame sans Merci. It opens, "Upon a Sabbath-day it fell;" and describes the streets of a cathedral town as the residents head to Evensong. Keats later described it as an attempt to create the "spirit of quietude". "I think I will give you the sensation of walking about an old country town in a coolish evening."




See also


John Keats bibliography




References






Further reading


Houghton, Walter E. (March 1946). "The Meaning of Keats's Eve of St. Mark". ELH. 13 (1): 64–78. doi:10.2307/2871500. JSTOR 2871500.




External links


The Eve of St. Mark Wikisource
An omnibus collection of Keats' poetry at Standard Ebooks

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