Venkataraman 1Arvind Venkataraman18 March, 2012

Analysis of Keats
Hyperion
The entire essence of John Keats epic poem
Hyperion
is that of doom
. The epics
narrative details the Titanomachy: the war which resulted in the
usurpation of the ultimatelydoomed Titans, the primordial Greek deities,
by the Olympians, the conventional Greek deities.
The epics author
too was doomed, for Keats succumbed to Tuberculosis and died at the
youngage of twenty six. But the poem itself was doomed; Keats felt as
though the poem retracted to
Miltonic Inversions
similarities to John Milton
s

Paradise Lost

and left the epicunfinished: cut off mid-line in book III. Keats' depiction of
the Titanomachy and thereplacement of the obsolete by the new exposes
the fundamental Romantic ideal of lauding progress, that mankind must
evolve while still evoking classical ideals, that this proactiveacceptance to
change and understanding of impermanence is the means to learning the
truth, andthat this truth is eternally pure and beautiful.Keats structures his
poem in a manner that harkens back to Classical poetic standardswhile
also embodying his contemporary Romantic style. The speaker changes
from Saturn inBook I to Hyperion and Enceladus in Book II to Apollo in Book
III, to shift the focus around thedifferent actors of the Titanomachy.
Interestingly enough, Keats never explicitly discusses the battles of the
Titanomachy. The entire narrative is ex post facto, after the main conflict
of theTitanomachy at the moment before Apollo becomes a God. Thus, the

tone throughout the epic isforlorn and distressed to reflect the sorrow of
the vanquished Titans until Book III where the tone becomes more
optimistic with the apotheosis of Apollo and the ascension of the
Olympians. The
poems
meter employs dactylic pentameter, with each line containing ten syllables
with the first

stressed and the two following unstressed,

Deep in the shady sadness of a vale (
1) TraditionalGreek and Latin poetry primarily employed dactylic
hexameter whereas British poetry such asShakespeare primarily used
iambic pentameter. Combining the Greek Dactyl with the
British pentameter creates a more unique piece that evokes the works of
Classical Greek Masters whilealso stylistically progressing, continuing the
conceit of artistic progress Keats and his Romanticcontemporaries
advocated. Keats believed humanity ought to seek knowledge as
the means toseeking the truth, and that artistic progress brought man
closer to this ideal. This same ideal led
to the demise of the poem, because as Keats attempted to distinguish his
work from Milton
s
Paradise Lost
, structurally it still resembled Milton
s work
, which Keats was diametricallyopposed to emulating. The use of blank
verse, a technique pioneered in English poetry by JohnMilton in
Paradise Lost
, allowed Keats greater room for poetic expression, but the similarity in
structure between Milton and Keats works pushed Keats to abandon the
poem just as the Greek
Pantheon abandoned the Titans
, for the poem is strewn with Miltonic Inversions such as
Saturn is fallen, am I too to fall?
where K

eats utilizes inverted syntax in a manner similar to

Miltons
(341).
Paul Sherwin of the Modern Language Association asserts that
[Keats] beginsthe poem with the intention of putting Milton in his place,
both historically and spiritually.Milton, however, is a portion of the past
that will not maintain its place. He returns "uncannily"to bewilder Keats's
sense of time and self, subverting Keats as powerfully as Keats subverts
him
.
Keats goal in writing
Hyperion
was to use classical inspiration from Greek Mythologyand Poetry and past
English masters such as Milton, and develop ideas in a more
contemporaryfashion to craft a Romantic epic poem. As the poem
commenced, Keats realized that it would beimpossible to finish

if he did so the poem would merely be a caricature of Miltons work and

not the work of art Keats had intended the poem to be. Though the
metrical innovations are

Venkataraman 3Romantic, the use of blank verse combined with the

subject matter of heavenly conflict pushedKeats to abandon the poem,
because it had lost its artistic value and no longer functioned as a piece of
Romantic poetry.
While Keats may have believed that structurally the Miltonic Inversions
rendered the
poem unable to be completed, the content of the poem avoids imitating
Milton and instead drawsimplications that tie into the Romantic ideal,
highlighting the evolution from primitive to refined,old to new, and brash
to artistic. At the outset of the poem, the leader of the Titans,
Saturn(Kronos), lies defeated, his position as king of the Gods taken by his
Olympian equivalentJupiter (Zeus). Saturn, as with the other Titans, is
baffled by his predicament, because the Titanshad created the Universe as
well as the very Olympians who defeated them. The upheaval ofDivine
power was absolutely unheard of, which shattered the psyche of

the Titans, especiallySaturn. Saturn, although an example of divine

perfection and power, is inherently primordial- helacks the understanding
of refined thought and is unable to rationalize his situation. His response
to the Titanomachy is pondering whether or not to create a new universe,

But cannot I create?Cannot I form? Cannot I fashion forth Another world,

another universe, To overbear andcrumble this to nought? Where is
another chaos? Where?"(141-144) Saturn is only able toconceptualize
Chaos, for the Titans crafted the universe from Chaos. But beyond that,
becausethe Titans cannot accept the nature of their defeat and still dwell
on their past triumph againstChaos, they are obsolete.Hyperion attempts
to exalt himself from this circumstance, because he has yet to beunseated
as God of the Sun by his Olympian counterpart, Apollo. In Book II of the
poemEnceladus, the Titan of War attempts to rally
the Titans back to battle, stating
And be yemindful that Hyperion,Our brightest brother, still is undisgraced

Hyperion, lo! His radiance is