Editing Hyperion (poem)

{{Short description|Abandoned epic poem by John Keats}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{italic title}}
'''''Hyperion, a Fragment''''' is an abandoned [[epic poetry|epic poem]] by 19th-century [[England|English]] [[Romanticism|Romantic]] poet [[John Keats]]. It was published in ''Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems'' (1820).<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of Keats: Poems Published in 1820, by John Keats|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/23684/23684-h/23684-h.htm|access-date=2021-11-14|website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> It is based on the [[Titanomachy|Titanomachia]], and tells of the despair of the Titans after their fall to the Olympians.  Keats wrote the poem from late 1818 until the spring of 1819. The poem stops abruptly in the middle of the third book, with close to 900 lines having been completed.  He gave it up as having "too many [[John Milton|Miltonic]] [[Substitution (poetry)|inversions]]."  He was also nursing his younger brother Tom, who died on 1 December 1818 of [[tuberculosis]]. 

Keats picked up the ideas again in his unfinished poem ''[[The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream]]'' (1856)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Hyperion {{!}} work by Keats {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hyperion-by-Keats|access-date=2021-11-14|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}}</ref> published after his death. He attempted to recast the epic by framing it with a personal quest to find [[truth]] and understanding.

These poems were Keats' final attempt to reconcile his perceived conflict between mortal decay and [[value (ethics and social sciences)|absolute value]].<ref name=":0" />

==Plot==

=== Background ===
The [[Titan (mythology)|Titan]]s are a [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheon]] of gods who ruled prior to the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympians]] and are now destined to fall.  They include [[Saturn (mythology)|Saturn]] (king of the gods), [[Ops]] (Saturn's wife), [[Theia|Thea]] (Hyperion's sister), [[Enceladus (giant)|Enceladus]] (cast as the god of war, though considered a [[Giants (Greek mythology)|Giant]] rather than a Titan in [[Greek mythology]]), [[Oceanus]] (god of the sea), [[Hyperion (mythology)|Hyperion]] (the god of the sun) and [[Clymene (mythology)|Clymene]] (a young goddess). 

=== Poem ===
The poem opens with Saturn bemoaning the loss of his [[Political power|power]], which is being overtaken by [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]].  Thea leads him to a place where the other Titans sit, similarly miserable, and they discuss whether they should fight back against their conquest by the new gods (the Olympians).  Oceanus declares that he is willing to surrender his power to [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] (the new god of the sea) because Neptune is more beautiful (this is worth bearing in mind in relation to the Romantic idea that beauty is paramount).{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}  Clymene describes first hearing the music of [[Apollo]], which she found beautiful to the point of pain (another Romantic idea).{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}  Finally, Enceladus makes a speech encouraging the Titans to fight.

Meanwhile, Hyperion's palace is described, and we first see Hyperion himself, the only Titan who is still powerful.  He is addressed by [[Uranus (mythology)|Uranus]] (old god of the sky, father of Saturn), who encourages him to go to where Saturn and the other Titans are.  We leave the Titans with the arrival of Hyperion, and the scene changes to Apollo (the new sun god, also god of [[music]], [[civilisation]] and [[culture]]) weeping on the beach.  Here [[Mnemosyne]] (goddess of memory) encounters him and he explains to her the cause of his tears:  he is aware of his divine potential, but as yet unable to fulfill it.  By looking into Mnemosyne's eyes he receives knowledge which transforms him fully into a god.

The poem as usually printed breaks off at this point, in mid-line, with the word "celestial". Keats's friend [[Richard Woodhouse]], transcribing this poem, completed this line as "Celestial Glory dawn'd: he was a god!"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/keats/john/hyperion/book3.html |title=Hyperion, by John Keats : Book III |access-date=9 May 2016 |archive-date=9 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509155447/https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/keats/john/hyperion/book3.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Style==
The language of ''Hyperion'' is very similar to [[John Milton|Milton's]], in metre and style.<ref>Bate, Walter Jackson. ''The Stylistic Development of Keats''. New York: Humanities Press, 1962</ref> However, his characters are quite different. Although Apollo falls into the image of the "Son" from ''[[Paradise Lost]]'' and of "Jesus" from ''[[Paradise Regained]]'', he does not directly confront Hyperion as Satan is confronted. Also, the roles are reversed, and Apollo is deemed as the "challenger" to the throne, who wins it by being more "true" and thus, more "beautiful."

==Extract==
From Book I, lines spoken by the Titan Hyperion:
{{poemquote|
Saturn is fallen, am I too to fall?
Am I to leave this haven of my rest,
This cradle of my glory, this soft clime,
This calm luxuriance of blissful light,
These crystalline pavilions, and pure fanes,
Of all my lucent empire? It is left
Deserted, void, nor any haunt of mine.
The blaze, the splendour, and the symmetry,
I cannot see—but darkness, death and darkness.
Even here, into my centre of repose,
The shady visions come to domineer,
Insult, and blind, and stifle up my pomp.—
Fall!—No, by Tellus and her briny robes!
Over the fiery frontier of my realms
I will advance a terrible right arm
Shall scare that infant thunderer, rebel Jove,
And bid old Saturn take his throne again.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Poems of John Keats |last=Keats |first=John |author-link=John Keats |editor-last=Sélincourt |editor-first=Ernest De |editor-link=Ernest de Sélincourt |date=1905 |location=New York |publisher=Dodd, Mead & Company |oclc=11128824 |url=https://archive.org/details/poemsofjohnkeats00keat/page/212 |page=212}}</ref>
|source=lines 234-250}}

== Reception ==
The poem and the volume that contained it met positive reception upon publication.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=British Library |url=https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/manuscript-of-john-keatss-hyperion |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=www.bl.uk}}</ref> As of 2022, it is considered one of the most important works of [[Romantic poetry]].<ref name=":1" />

==Influence==
''Hyperion'' has influenced a number of later works:
* [[Dan Simmons]]'s [[science fiction]] quartet, the ''[[Hyperion Cantos]]''.
* The power metal band [[Keldian]] referenced the poem in the song "Hyperion" on the album ''[[Journey of Souls (album)|Journey of Souls]]''.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

The following critics have written on ''Hyperion'' and on Keats' handling of the epic form:  
*John Barnard. ''John Keats.''  Cambridge University Press 1987.  Chapter 4 Hyperion:  'Colossal Grandeur'
*Cedric Watts. ''A Preface to Keats.''  Longman Group Limited 1985.  Part two: the Art of Keats, The influence of Milton:  Hyperion.

==External links==
{{wikisource|Hyperion (Keats)}}
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/john-keats/poetry|Display Name=An omnibus collection of Keats' poetry|noitalics=true}}
* [http://www.bartleby.com/126/1000.html#49 Notes on ''Hyperion'' from Bartleby.com]
* [http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/keats/keatshyperion.html John Keats' ''Hyperion''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402033224/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/keats/keatshyperion.html |date=2 April 2010 }} at the [[British Library]]
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23684/23684-h/23684-h.htm#Page_145 Text of ''Hyperion''] at [[Project Gutenberg]]

{{John Keats}}

[[Category:Poetry by John Keats]]
[[Category:Unfinished poems]]
[[Category:1819 poems]]
[[Category:Epic poems in English]]