What is the sentence structure for this verse in John Keats' "The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone!"?
He writes:
When the dusk holiday—or holinight [—][some versions put another em dash here]
Of fragrant-curtain’d love begins to weave
The woof of darkness thick, for hid delight,
Should I read a pause, like:
When the dusk begins to weave (the) holiday or holinight of fragrant-curtain'd love (;) The woof of darkness (implied made) thick, for hid delight
⠀
?
Otherwise I can't make sense of it:
When the dusk (adjective) holiday—or holinight (subject) begins to weave the woof of darkness (object) thick (predicative of the object) of fragrant-curtain'd love
When the dusk (subject?) begins to weave holiday—or holinight (object?) / the woof of darkness (object? Which one?) thick (predicative of the object) of fragrant-curtain'd love
- Maybe there's something else I'm missing.
Top Answer/Comment:
I understand the clause beginning when the dusk... to be a modifier of shut of eve:
... at shut of eve
When the dusk holiday or holinight
Of fragrant-curtain’d love begins to weave
The woof of darkness thick for hid delight
Compare:
at break of day when cock begins to crow
or
at midday when your shadow disappears
On first reading I understand dusk to be a noun acting as modifier of "holiday", which is the subject of the verb phrase "begins to weave" whose object is "the woof" and thick being an object complement like "tie it tight", i.e. weave the woof so that the fabric is thick, no longer see-through. It is a "woof of darkness" being woven into the "curtain" fabric of the evening.
The preposition for might be paraphrased as "for the purposes of" (hidden delight).
If dusk is to be the subject of "begins to weave" with holiday the object, the clause beginning "the woof" would have to be an absolute construction (the woof [being] thick):
... at shut of eve
When the dusk holiday or holinight
Of fragrant-curtain’d love begins to weave,
The woof of darkness thick for hid delight
And one might wish for this reading that these lines read "when dusk the holiday" instead of "when the dusk holiday":
... at shut of eve
When dusk the holiday or holinight
Of fragrant-curtain’d love begins to weave,
The woof of darkness thick for hid delight
The locution weave the woof is well attested. But of course weave can be intransitive. So I suppose the choice comes down to deciding whether "the dusk holiday" makes any sense as a noun phrase or "holiday--or holinight-- of fragrant-curtain'd love" without any article makes sense as a noun-phrase so that it can stand as the object of weave. The locution make holiday of (something) [i.e. to treat it as an occasion for fun or as a break from serious business or to treat it with less seriousness than it deserves] is attested in the late 18th and early 19th century; weave holiday of fragrant-curtain'd love would be possible by analogy, though without the negative connotations perhaps.
Do you have an image of the manuscript?
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