#eve of st agnes

[matyas-ss]

Eve of St Agnes, John Everett Millais (1863) The Royal Collection of the United Kingdom

[transistoradio]

John Everett Millais (1829-1896), “Madeleine Undressing – Eve of St. Agnes” (1863), oil on canvas, 154.3 x 117.8 cm.

[blackhyena]

John Keats, ‘The Eve of St. Agnes’.

[aquietjune]

Little Bird Revision Update

I will need some more days to ensure the consistency of the overall plot and the pacing, so my current plan is to post Chapter 4 on Tuesday at the latest. The week has been quite hectic and I had to skip a couple of editing sessions for lack of mental energy alone; the plan is to recharge and get at it during the weekend. In the meantime, I thank you all for your patience, and, again, for your kind support and feedback. It means a lot.

On a brighter note, as I’m going through the story once again for this round of revision my mind is finally able to detect the points where intervention is needed, and I’m looking forward especially to the writing of new scenes. That was expected, so the important thing now is to have the time and patience to work on it.

That’s it for now! Be well and please enjoy this beautiful illustration by Harry Clarke ✨

[frecht]

normal that the harry clarke room was closed and NOT moping around the art gallery with a cartoonish frown on my face:(

[richiesnotaloserguyscmon]

okay so really funny side rant but I’m having a crisis about this

@alexx-87 @edgarallanpoesbestie @miss-morgans-lover don’t come for me for this

but basically in English Literature we’re studying John Keats’ work and the poem we’re currently reviewing is The Eve of St Agnes. In the poem, a young woman called Madeline, my name, same spelling and all, who performs the ritual of the Feast of St Agnes (for those who don’t know, the Feast of St Agnes is an old Christian ritual that takes place on January 21st where young women won’t eat and then they’ll sleep naked, facing the heavens and in their dreams their future husbands will visit them and feast with them and kiss) and whilst she is performing this ritual, Porphyro sneaks into her room and convinces her to run away with him.

But the name is not the only things that weirds me out:

• Madeline has blue eyes: “Her blue affrayed eyes wide open shone” I also have blue eyes

• Depending on how you perceive Porphyro, you can interpret him as a hero from saving Madeline from her singing family, whom she feels trapped with (I feel trapped with my family, scared of disappointing them)

• She cries when she sees Porphyro, because he’s not as handsome as she wanted him to be. This is such a me thing to do. 

• She has vivid dreams about her future which recently has been happening to me since before we even started working on this poem.

• Four people have told me I look like this rendition of Madeline in this painting:

THIS ISNT A JOKE GUYS 😭😭 I THINK I WAS PROPHESIED BY JOHN KEATS 200 YEARS AGO

[maypoleman1]

20th January

St Agnes’ Eve

The Cwn Annwn. Source: Pinterest, posted by Michele Biery

Today is St Agnes’ Eve and a good night to avoid the woods of Wales. The demonic hounds of the faerie realm, known as the Cwn Annwn are abroad, recognisable by their distinctive white coats, red ears and red eyes. Although otherworldly (they are believed to be the souls of the damned), these spectral hounds are nonetheless a very physical manifestation, capable of hunting down stags as a pack and will react badly to any human interloper who attempts to interfere with their kill. Equally, the hounds can sometimes manifest as a single dog, howling mournfully. The Cwn Annwn terrify mortal dogs who will refuse to enter any place they fear the hell hounds may be present.

St Agnes’ Eve is also a day of divination for the lovelorn. Unhappy singletons are advised to take some barley grains and sow them under an apple tree while chanting:

Barley, barley, I sow thee

That my true love I might see;

Take thy rake and follow me.

The apparition of your future partner will then appear before you, wielding a rake. An alternative approach is to eat salted herring last thing at night and your soon-to-be lover will turn up at your bedside in the middle of the night, bearing a glass of water, which sounds only slightly less terrifying than an encounter with the Cwn Annwn.

[gutstring]

[lesamis]

sweet sir galahad....... song of all time...... the exhaustion of sadness in periods of long depression the mundanity of the everyday you have to drag yourself through like wading through mud....... ms joan baez you've done it again

[noobsomeexagerjunk]

several replays later and i'm discovering new things still--this image is from nones directly after st. john's eve, during act 2, and i had no idea you can find father thomas in this mass garment (??? i think that's what that is). this seems to be the only time you can see him like that, and if you accept the confessions quest here, he will be wearing the garment all throughout

a few others include:

werner can be consulted should one want to figure out the volvelle thing in act 1

during prime on the last day of act 1, you can find marie and bert in the shrine to st. satia and learn more about the drucker family's struggles to have children + their devotion to st. satia

during sext, also on the last day of act 1, you can actually find brigita and veronica bathing in the waterfall

i feel like something triggers this but, during the golden hand drinking quest in act 2, when you speak with werner and his italian friends, hanna will either spill the drinks she brings up or serve them to the table. she has done the former in most of my plays but did the latter in my most recent one and i suspect this has to do with andreas's conversations regarding the murder of otto, since i was nicer to her in the latest one

this game has several ways to complete a good chunk of the quests. the yellow flowers for act 2 can be best solved by consulting agnes, but many can be consulted about it (werner, agnes, gertrude)

you can play hide and seek with ulrike in the first mural section of act 3 by seeking anna, else, and the kids in the town commons

magdalene will go down the mines no matter what in act 3; help (from baltas or the gertner twins) or no help (straight up go down there unassisted), that quest can be done apparently

you can confront Father Thomas for passing to Mother Franziska his grievances about Magdalene's pursuit for the mural directly after visiting the Poor Clares during the Christian Tassing quest in act 3. good convo in that one

actually insane that asking Father Thomas to read the Historia Tassiae for the act 3 quest was an option at all, in retrospect

[petaltexturedskies]

Half-hidden, like a mermaid in sea-weed, pensive awhile she dreams awake,

John Keats, from"The Eve of St. Agnes" in The Complete Poems

[frecht]

harry clarke masterpost....almost all his windows that i've seen in person (i didn't take photos of all the honan chapel windows + i forgot to take a photo of the one in donabate)...my faves i think are the annunciation from terenure (the first one), song of the mad prince (the small blue panel), and the mother of sorrows (the three-light pieta next to song of the mad prince)

[virgin-martyr]

Keats’s characters are always eating. Many critics have noticed that Keats’s sexual experiences are accompanied by food; from the 'strawberries' he eats while chasing the nymphs of 'Sleep and Poetry,' to the luscious and quite unnecessary spread that Porphyro puts out for Madeline in The Eve of St. Agnes, to the 'roots of relish sweet / And honey wild, and manna dew' the fairy enchantress offers her Knight. But in truth eating does not just accompany the mild sexual encounters of Keats’s verse: it introduces them–eating always comes before bodily contact, and it often ends up compensating for the pleasures Keats’s people hardly ever experience. In The Eve, the only place in Keats’s verse where sexuality goes beyond kisses and caresses, Porphyro and Madeline do not touch the dainties set out for them. Sex provides its own pleasure; they do not need the proffered pleasures of the palate. Everyone else has to eat.

James Najarian, excerpt from Victorian Keats: Manliness, Sexuality, and Desire

[epifaniacintilante]

Ophelia

"The Eve of St. Agnes",

A poem he can't reach you in

Ophelia, you know how to lose

But when will you learn to choose

Those men who choose to stay

Those mothers who won't look the other way

Ophelia, you must remember

[killerdancingqueen]

Good Omens timeline (as of season 2), from Before the Beginning until the end of season 2:

- “Before the Beginning” — Aziraphale and Crowley meet for the first time.

- 9:13 a.m, Sunday, October 21, 4004 B.C — The creation of the universe (according to God).

- 4004 B.C, "just after the Beginning" — Eve and Adam eat an apple, and then Crowley and Aziraphale have their first on-screen interaction.

- Somewhere between 3070 and 3030 B.C (when Nefertiti was alive), Egypt — Aziraphale presumably impresses Nerfertiti with his magic skills, “You're talking to the Angel who fooled Nefertiti with a lone caraway seed and three cowrie shells.”

- 3004 B.C, Mesopotamia — Aziraphale and Crowley witness the events of Noah's Ark.

- 2500 B.C, the Land of Uz — Aziraphale and Crowley help Job and his family (A Companion to Owls minisode).

- 33 A.D, Golgotha — Aziraphale and Crowley see Jesus’ crucifixion.

- 41 A.D, Rome — Aziraphale and Crowley have oysters.

- 537 A.D., Kingdom of West Essex — Aziraphale and Crowley are knights in King Arthur’s time, and Crowley first suggests “the Arrangement”.

- Sometime in the 1500s (likely between 1503 and 1506 if wikipedia is to be believed), Leonardo Da Vinci’s Studio, Italy — ‘In which Crowley gets drunk with Leonardo Da Vinci’ and buys a sketch of the Mona Lisa for fifteen florins (cut scene from the script book).

- 1601, the Globe Theatre, London — Aziraphale and Crowley meet Shakespeare (who steals a line from Crowley that he uses in Antony and Cleopatra). Crowley also performs a miracle to make Hamlet popular.

- 1650 — The first (known) time that Aziraphale does the apology dance for Crowley.

- 1656, Lancashire, England — the last true witch in England, Agnes Nutter, is burnt by Witchfinder Major Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultry Pulsifer, who is killed in the process by Agnes’ forward-thinking.

- 1760, Monsieur Rossignol’s Night Classess — Aziraphale learns french the hard way.

- 1793, Paris — Crowley saves Aziraphale from prison during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror (and then they get crepes, as well as Aziraphale doing the apology dance for Crowley).

- 1800, the opening of Aziraphale’s bookshop in Soho — Gabriel and Sandalphon visit Aziraphale to promote him back in heaven. Crowley overhears this, and tricks Gabriel into having Aziraphale stay on earth in order to “thwart him” (cut scene from the script book).

- Sometime before 10th November, 1827, but likely after 1800 — a conman attempts to seduce Aziraphale into helping her “brother” with his debt. Some-point after, Aziraphale tells Crowley of the story over a glass of claret.

- ~A month before 10th November, 1827, Edinburgh, Scotland — Crowley and Aziraphale visit a graveyard with a statue of Gabriel and end up helping a body-snatcher, Crowley also prevents her from committing suicide which results in him being sucked into hell “And that, was the last I was to see of Crowley. For quite some time.” (The Resurrectionists minisode).

- 1859, Aziraphale’s bookshop, Soho — ‘In which Aziraphale almost sells a book’ before receiving a note delivered by a street urchin from Crowley reading ‘the usual place - C’ (cut scene from the script book).

- 1862, St. James Park, London — Crowley requests holy water from Aziraphale for assurance in case anything goes wrong.

- Sometime between 1889 and 1919 (the years Hoffman is alive) but likely around 1876 (the year the book, Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring is published, that Aziraphale has a signed copy of), England — Aziraphale receives magic lessons from Angelo John Lewis, pseudonym Professor Hoffman, ‘“Aha! Professor Hoffmann's modern magic. Ah, there you are. To Mr. Fell, that's me, a wonderful student” (written) Yours, the Hoff’

- 1941, London — Aziraphale gives prophecy books to some nazis for Hitler, in an attempt to arrest them, only they double-cross him as well. Crowley then comes to Aziraphale's rescue and gives him a lift home, stopping at the West End theatre on the way back . However, the nazis come back as zombies for hell to expose Aziraphale and Crowley’s arrangement, but Aziraphale’s magic thwarts them (Nazi Zombie Flesh Eaters minisode). At some point later on, Aziraphale does the apology dance for Crowley.

- 1967, Soho, London —Crowley arranges a heist (after having gone clothes shopping that morning) to steal holy water from a church with Lance Corporal Shadwell and others. Aziraphale thinks it’s too dangerous, so he gets Crowley holy water himself.

- 1970s, London — Crowley changes the design of the M25 to represent the symbol Odegra, which comes back to bite him later on (as most things do).

- ~2008, “Eleven Years Ago" — Hastur and Ligur deliver the Antichrist to Crowley, who gives it to The Chattering Order of St. Beryl. The Antichrist is then swapped with Deirdre and Arthur Young’s child, while their child, Warlock, goes with Thaddeus and Harriet Dowling. Trying to prevent Armageddon, Aziraphale and Crowley agree to help raise Warlock, the boy they assume is the Antichrist.

- ~2013, “Five Years Later - Six Years Before the End of the World”  — Crowley disguises himself as Warlock's nanny, while Aziraphale disguises himself as the Dowlings' gardener.

- ~2019, “Six years later” — the chronological events of season 1 unfold, ending with Aziraphale and Crowley eating at the Ritz.

- Between 2019-2023 — Gabriel and Beelzebub routinely meet in the Resurrectionists pub, where they fall in love.

- ~2023 — the chronological events of season 2 unfold, ending with Aziraphale going up to Heaven and Crowley driving away from the bookshop to destinations unknown (his flat? out of london? out of the uk? out of the world?).

[rareomens]

Rare Omens Comment Fest 2024 continues! Day 25-27, we’re asking you to leave comments on fanworks that feature: Series 1 + Series 2 Characters!

Tags to search...

Pick 1 character from each list to search!

Series 1 Only:

Adam Young, Brian, Wensleydale, Pepper, Dog, Warlock, Hastur, Ligur, Sandalphon, Anathema Device, Newton Pulsifer, Sergeant Shadwell, Madame Tracy, Death, Pollution, Famine, War, Lucifer/Satan, Agnes Nutter, Witchfinder General Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer, Sister Mary Loquacious, Sister Theresa Garrulous, Mother Superior, The Chattering Order of St. Beryl, Lesley the International Express Man, Maud, Arthur Young, Deirdre Young, Harriet Dowling, Thaddeus Dowling, RP Tyler, Mr. Scroggie, Beryl Ormerod, Ron Ormerod, Julia Petley, Giles Baddicombe, Spike, Sally, Adam, Eve, Hell’s Usher, Quartermaster Angel

Series 2 Only:

Nina, Maggie, Muriel, Saraqael, Shax, Furfur, Job, Sitis, Jemima, Keziah, Ennon, Elspeth, Wee Morag, Mr. Dalrymple, Mrs. Henderson, The Ladies of Camelot, Pat the Magician, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Sandwich, Mutt, Mutt’s Spouse, Justine, Mrs. Cheng, Mr. Arnold

Feel free to check out our AO3 collection, Rare_Omens: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Rare_Omens