Hyperion Criticism
Hyperion, composed by John Keats, represents one of his most ambitious poetic endeavors, despite being left unfinished. The epic consists of two versions: Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. Crafted during a period of both personal turmoil and creative intensity, the poems reflect Keats’s profound engagement with themes central to the Romantic era, such as beauty, truth, imagination, and the relationship between art and life.
Keats's work is deeply embedded in Greek mythology, exploring the fall of the Titans and the rise of the Olympian gods, particularly focusing on Hyperion and Apollo. The first version, Hyperion, presents the Titans' decline, while The Fall of Hyperion is darker, emphasizing that beauty is born of suffering and expressing a deeper exploration of the poet's role in society.
Critics have remarked on Keats's stylistic evolution in these works, noting influences from Milton's Paradise Lost, which he both emulated and sought to subvert as discussed by Paul Sherwin and Jonathan Bate. The Fall of Hyperion, compared to Dante's The Divine Comedy, incorporates a dream-vision structure that reflects Keats's aesthetic theories, particularly his concept of "negative capability," which emphasizes the acceptance of uncertainty and contradiction.
Critical reception of Hyperion has varied, with scholars like Irene Chayers and Stuart Sperry examining the thematic and stylistic nuances in Keats’s portrayal of the poet versus the dreamer. Additionally, Paul Sheats appreciates the restrained yet intense imagery, demonstrating Keats's artistic growth.
Beyond traditional analyses, critics like Ellen Brinks and Joel Faflak have explored thematic elements of masculinity and psychoanalysis within the poems. The unfinished nature of Keats's Hyperion poems continues to inspire diverse scholarly interpretations, affirming their significance in Romantic literature and Keats's poetic legacy.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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On the Incompleteness of Keats's Hyperion
(summary)
In the following essay, Miller asserts that Keats left Hyperion incomplete because he could not resolve the philosophical dilemma created through his profession that the world will inherently improve over time and his uncertainty regarding universal fate and individual will.
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Dreamer, Poet, and Poem in The Fall of Hyperion
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In the following essay, Chayers considers Keats's thematic and stylistic use of the composition of poetry in The Fall of Hyperion. Chayers focuses on the dialogue between the first-person narrator and the priestess Moneta, as well as the passage which reflects on the poet versus dreamer, as a representative example.
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Stylistic Discipline in The Fall of Hyperion
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In the following essay, Sheats asserts that the style of The Fall of Hyperion utilizes a restrained use of imagery combined with intensity of sensation, which demonstrates Keats's growth and artistic discipline.
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Tragic Irony in The Fall of Hyperion
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In the following essay, Sperry asserts The Fall of Hyperion is an expression of tragic irony. The critic also considers Adam and his dream as an allegory for poets and poetry.
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Dying into Life: Keats's Struggle with Milton in Hyperion
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In the following essay, Sherwin considers Keats's poetic reactions to Milton. He concentrates on Hyperion, noting both Milton's influence on its style, formal design, and mythological structure and Keats's attempt to create a poem of progress that subverts Milton's moral view.
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Superhuman Silence: Language in Hyperion
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In the following essay, Taylor looks at depictions of divine speech in Hyperion. The critic also focuses on the use of silence and figurative language in Keats's reworking of mythology within the Romantic period.
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Keats and the Solitary Pan
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In the following essay, Ober and Thomas examine the implications of Keats's use of Pan in The Fall of Hyperion. They asserting that the character operates figuratively as the Romantic Imagination.
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The Political Implication of Keats's Classicist Aesthetics
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In the following essay, Bewell suggests that Hyperion reflects Keats's uncertainty of his own political voice, and should instead be read as a poem concerned with the aesthetics of sculptural form.
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Subjectivity as Critique and the Critique of Subjectivity in Keats's Hyperion
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In the following essay, Bernstein considers the impact of subjectivity in Hyperion, drawing from theoretical debates about modernism and postmodernism.
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Beyond the Fragmented Word: Keats at the Limits of Patrilineal Language
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In the following essay, Ross examines the presence of patriarchal language in Endymion and Hyperion. Ross asserts Keats recognized his continued imitation of patrilineal discourse in Hyperion and, in an attempt to subvert this tendency, shifted to an obtuse private language.
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Keats's Two Hyperions and the Problem of Milton
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In the following essay, Bate discusses the influence of Milton's Paradise Lost on Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion. Bate focuses on Keats's repeated attempts to compose a more politically progressive, less Miltonic Hyperion.
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Revision and Repression in Keats's Hyperion: ‘Pure Creations of the Poets Brain.’
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In the following essay, Plasa discusses the relationship between Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, and Milton's Paradise Lost. Plasa considers Keats's work as a re-envisioning of poetics that attempts to repress the Miltonic past.
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Romantic Psychoanalysis: Keats, Identity, and (The Fall of) Hyperion
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In the following essay, Faflak asserts that the Hyperion poems indicate how Romanticism invents, as opposed to prefigures, psychoanalysis. Faflak concentrates on the poems' construction of abject identity through an analysis that develops from Lacanian and Kristevan theoretical positions.
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Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, and Keats's Poetics
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In the following essay, Bode analyzes Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion as part of a consistent, rather than a continuous, expression of Keats's poetics. Bode sees the poems as marking the development of Keats's thoughts on 'negative capability.'
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The Male Romantic Poet as Gothic Subject: Keats's Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream
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In the following essay, Brinks considers the construction of masculinity and homoeroticism as part of a Gothic subtext in Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion.
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Black Gates and Fiery Galleries: Eastern Architecture in The Fall of Hyperion.
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In the following essay, Goldberg examines Keats's use of Indian imagery in both Endymion and The Fall of Hyperion. Goldberg also looks at the prevalence of Indian exoticism in writings of the Romantic period.
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On the Incompleteness of Keats's Hyperion
(summary)
- Further Reading