Hyperio_ by Keats

[Sancho Panza]

I recently finished reading the novel Hyperion by Dan Simmons and was inspired to then go back and look at the poem from which it gets its name. Like the book (though in a far more literal sense), the poem is clearly unfinished and I was wondering what theories people might have as to why that is. Did he just give up, feeling that he was being too formulaic and not up to his usual standards, or did he never intend to finish it and wanted it left, maybe as a metaphor for the eternal incompleteness of life? If it is the latter, is there a particular reason why he chose the point he did, ie the apotheosis of Apollo?


Kept undulation round his eager neck.
During the pain Mnemosyne upheld
Her arms as one who prophesied.—At length
Apollo shriek'd;—and lo! from all his limbs
Celestial...

[/dev/null]

Keats wrote the poem from late 1818 until the spring of 1819, when he gave it up as having "too many Miltonic inversions." He was also nursing his younger brother Tom, who died on 1 December 1818 of tuberculosis.

Still he published it on 1820, so I guess he liked it...

[Charles Darnay]

He never really gave up on Hyperion, he was just never satisfied with it. "The Fall of Hyperion", published posthumously, is a reworking of "Hyperion".

[MorpheusSandman]

When Keats quit on it (or, at least, put it aside) he claimed that it had "too many Miltonic inversions," which was one way of pointing out how he realized it was far too imitative, if not archaic, without enough originality, newness, or freshness injected into it. I actually think Keats was probably the last (maybe the only) poet that actually pulled of that Miltonic style which is nearly inimitable. Ultimately, though, that's not the aesthetic direction Keats wanted to go in. I've always been curious whether or not he would've eventually written an epic if he had lived long enough. Following Milton has proven a nigh impossible task for every generation afterwards. But I do believe Keats basically perfected the lyric in the last year of his life. I can't help but think he would've eventually found something new to have done with the epic.

[/dev/null]

I've always been curious whether or not he would've eventually written an epic if he had lived long enough. Following Milton has proven a nigh impossible task for every generation afterwards. But I do believe Keats basically perfected the lyric in the last year of his life. I can't help but think he would've eventually found something new to have done with the epic.

I feel the same way. He was always prone to epic poetry, and had very serious attemps at it. Given his improvement in short lyrical poetry "over the years"... who knows.

[Sancho Panza]

It would have been interesting to have seen how The Fall of Hyperion would have ended had Tuberculosis not forced him to give it up. Then again, he clearly had exceedingly high expectations of himself, and with good reason, so he may never have been truly happy enough with it even had he lived into old age, especially after the bad reviews he got for Endymion.

[Ser Nevarc]

Yes, those Endymion reviews had a notoriously powerful impact on the sensitive poet. Some critics have tried to measure this impact and speculate how his poetry changed, simply as a result of a few harshly-worded reviews. Sad