ABSTRACT
Hunt opened his London Journal for 21 January 1835 (the anniversary of St Agnes) by observing: ‘The reader should give us three pearls, instead of three half-pence, for this number of our Journal, for it presents him with the whole of Mr Keats's beautiful poem [‘The Eve of St Agnes’]—to say nothing of our loving commentary.’ Despite some tendency to preach or rhapsodize, the importance of this commentary, (a), must not be underrated: it is the first systematic discussion of a poem by Keats, and it shows much sensitive understanding of the way his poetry works, as well as psychological insight.
