Ode to Psyche

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Ode to Psyche is one of the famous odes of John Keats, an English Romantic poet. It was written in 1819, a productive year that also saw the writing of two other famous works, Ode on a Grecian Urn and Ode to a Nightingale. Although often thought of as the weakest of Keats's great odes, Ode to Psyche serves an important departure from Keats's early poetical subject matter, which frequently involved a flight upward into the pleasant realms of one's imagination. However, Psyche documents the poet's quest inward, which is aided by the goddess Psyche and subsequently animates the poet's imagination to create 'stars without name' (61) and flowers that 'will never breed the same' (63).

Psyche has been acclaimed as the most beautiful woman in Greek mythology — so radiant that Eros himself fell in love with her, and had to fool her into becoming his bride, under the pretence of a demon. Consequently, it is palpable that Ode to Psyche posits the notion of an outward beauty so overwhelming that it is more brilliant than love itself.