JOHN KEATS HYPERIONTHEME OF EVOLUTION

Hyperion is an unfinished poem in three books that is based on the Greek myth of the defeat of the Titans. Under Saturn, the Titans, including Hyperion, a sun God, ruled the Universe. They were overthrown by the Olympians, led by three sons of Saturn: Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto. Hyperion was replaces by Apollo, who was also a sun God but had, in addition, particular associations with music and poetry. Keats sees in the myth a means to express faith in the idea of progress. Even the old gods must admit that their successors are more beautiful and therefore better fitted to rule. Hyperion was begun by Keats beside his brothers sickbed in September or October1818It is to Hyperion that he refers when he speaks in those days of plunging into abstract images, and finding a feverous relief in the abstractions of poetry. These phrases are applicable only to Hyperion. It was finished sometime in April, 1819. The subject of Hyperion had long been in Keatss mind, and both in the text and the preface of Endymion he indicated his intention to attempt it. At first he thought of the poem to be written as a romance, but his plan changed to that of a blank verse epic in ten books. His purpose was to describe the warfare of the Titans and Olympians of the Greek gods; and in particular one episode of that warfare, the dethronement of the Sun-god Hyperion and the assumption of his kingdom by Apollo. Hyperion exists in two versions, both incomplete. The second version was a revision of the first, with the addition of a long introduction in a new style which makes it into a different poem. As a matter of fact, the period covered by Hyperion is the period of Keatss most intense experience, both of joy and sorrow, in actual life; and of his most rapid development. The theme of the war between the Titans and the Olympians who overthrew them often occurs in the literature which Keats was fond of reading. The specific theme, the dethronement of Hyperion, the old sun-god, by Apollo the new, is Keatss own.Apollo is also the god of poetry In spite of its fragmentary condition, Hyperion remains Keatss most imposing piece of work. According to the publishers, the hostile reception given to Endymion discouraged Keats from continuing with the poem. Keats himself said that he gave it up because of the first excessive Miltonics style. There were too many Miltonic inversions, he wrote to Reynolds. Miltonic verse cannot be written but in an artful or rather in an artists humour. The Miltonic influence is certainly obvious in the verse and diction of the first Hyperion as it is in the design. There is for instance a constant use of inversions such as Stride colossal, rest divine, typical of Miltons Latinized style. Especially noticeable is the trick of sandwiching a noun between two adjectives, for example, gold clouds metropolitan. There are other fragments of classical sentence-structure too:

Save what solemn tubes, Blown by the serious Zephyrs, gave of Sweet And wandering sounds, slow-breathed melodies. But the poem is hardly Miltonic in any strict sense. In the matter of rhythm, Keatss Blank Verse has not the Miltons Flight. its periods do not wheel through such stately evolution to so solemn and far-foreseen close; though it indeed lacks neither power nor music. It is still the verse of Keats, but immensely purged and strengthened by contact with a severer master. The first Book of Hyperion shows the fallen Titans, with Saturn as the central figure, but Hyperion as the only one who remains even potentially active. The second Book shows them in council and its vital part is the speech of Oceanus. My voice is not a bellows unto irc. Yet listen, ye who will, whilst I bring proof How ye, perforce, must be content to stoop: And in this proof much comfort will I give,

If ye will take that comfort in its truth. We fall by course of Natures law, not force Of thunder, or of Jove. Saturn was not the first power in the universe, and should not expect to be the last. Chaos and darkness produced light:light brought heaven and earth and life itself. Just as heaven and earth are more beautiful than chaos and darkness, Soon our heels a fresh perfection treads, A power more strong in beauty, born of us And fated to excel us

The Titans should not grieve over the situation and should not envy their successors. ..for tis the eternal law, That first in beauty shall be first in might. In the fragment of the third Book the interest shifts from the Titans to the young Apollo. Mnemosyne alone among the Titans has formed relations with the younger gods. She has watched over the childhood of Apollo, and now she finds him wavering and uncertain of his course. In his talk with her he finds the consciousness of his destiny and assumes his new-found god-head. The simple Clymene follows and supports Oceanus by bearing testimony to the beauty of the young Apollos music, which she has heard. The lesson of all this is that Hyperion is to be a poem of evolution, of the suppression of lower forms by higher; and that the successors are to prevail because they are superior in beauty. So the theme of evolution, in the poem, is clear from the dethronement of Hyperion and succession of Apollo.

Written and composed by: Prof. A.R. Somroo M.A. English, M.A. Education CELL: +923339971417