A Transcendental Spirit of Mind of John Keat's "Ode to Psyche" – A Study

First, the myth of Psyche: The most beautiful of mortals, Psyche was left to die of exposure. But, pricking himself with his own arrow, Eros enthralled himself to her. Eros took Psyche as lover, on the condition she never learn his identity, that she never see him in full light. Inevitably, she sees Eros, and so he flees. After suffering many impossible trials, Psyche reunites with Eros. As reward, she becomes a Goddess.Nowhere in the poem does this myth appear. You could replace the dove-Eros and Psyche with any pagan Gods. If the poem intends solely to sanctify nature, by deifying doves, then Keats may as well have written “Ode to Eros”, a more recognizable god than the ‘latest born’ Olympian Psyche. Yet he chooses Psyche because she is the ‘latest born’ of the gods. She is a woman become Goddess, a woman who through tribulations rose to the immortal pantheon.