delicious moan

For a ode ostensibly dedicated to the psyche, or the soul, Keats' ode creates a male fantasy land that, for all its alleged tribute to this winged creature, seems to to more about the poet than the subject. Keats first sees the 'winged Pysche' in a dreamlike state as he wanders through a soft, secret, previously untouched and undiscovered, glen. In this veritable virginal oasis he encounters Cupid and Pysche in an private embrace. In this strange, voyeuristic scene, the narrator positions himself as a worshipper and a seducer of sorts.

After ennumerating all of the recognition that the Pysche deserves but has not hitherto recieved, Keats constructs his own temple to the 'lucent fans' of the winged Psyche: this poem. This temple, almost exactly like the secluded glen which the poem opened with, is created in "some untrodden region of my mind" where thoughts of "pleasant pain" reside. Here again he returns to the sexualized language of the poem's opening sanctuary. There are "zephyrs, streams, birds and bees,/The mass-lain dryads shall be lulled to sleep." In his mind he creates a sanctuary for this sensual goddess to inhabit, but one over which he has control. The dryads, normally much more seductive and elusive, are lulled to sleep with his powerful control over nature.

The soul then is constructed as a sensual being; it's resting place is one that welcomes dryads and forest nymphs. It is a bountiful, fertile place with "breeding flowers" and "soft delight" that lets the "warm love in." In this strange fantasy the narrator controls these natural, fertile elements; he creates a gentle nature "with all the gardener Fancy e'er could feign." His power to create a refuge for this sensual subject seems to be more important than the Psyche itself. It is almost like an invitation/seduction poem, serenading the subject and telling her what wonderful things he would build for her.