The Greek Mythology And English Elements In Three Long Poems Of John Keats

John Keats, from the teenage years, began to pay attention to and browse books about ancient Greek mythology, and this affection had been throughout his youth. The three long poems, Endymion, Hyperion: A Fragment, and Lamia, were the paragons of Keats’ understanding and application of the Greek myths, and they were also the classics of Keats’ works. During his lifetime, Keats was anticipating himself being famous posthumously and ranking among the great English poets. Keats laid this expectation on the composition of long poems, so it is essential to do deep research of the long poems for the sake of interpreting Keats comprehensively. Endymion is the longest poem of Keats. Keats extracted the love story of Diana and Endymion from John Lemprière’s Classical Dictionary, and created a romance about Endymion’s pursuit and obtainment of satisfactory love. Keats imitated the two-line structure of Odyssey and set up dual themes in Endymion, namely the earnest wish of Keats and the love affairs of Endymion. As to the plots, Endymion encountered three love stories in his adventures which had nothing to do with him in Greek mythology. The deeds of three couples contributed to the sublimation of Endymion’s thought. In image-building, Keats designed three names and four forms for the moon goddess and supplemented and innovated the image and personality of Endymion. Keats embedded Endymion in the whole background and atmosphere of England. The poem’s natural environment, flowers and birds had characteristics typical of England. Besides the theme of love, Keats also conveyed his ideal for poetry and vision for the future of his motherland. Hyperion: A Fragment is Keats’ first attempt at the creation of the epic genre. Keats assumed the story prototype in Hesiod’s Theogony which the Olympian deities imprisoned the defeated Titans to formulate his own new Theogony and to stipulate the rule of the replacement of dynasties. Apollo was designated as Jove’s successor and Keats usually blurred the distinction between Apollo and himself in Hyperion. In addition, Saturn and Hyperion could find their respective real and literary prototypes, and Keats also added some new characters which had no origin in ancient Greek mythology and endowed them with unique meaning. Lamia is a love poem, and this poem proved to be both popular and a critically acclaimed one. In addition to employing the love tragedy of Lamia and Lycius in Robert Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, Keats also used Ovid’s Metamorphoses for reference in the story of Lamia and Hermes’ deal, and the love affair of Hermes and the forest nymph. Except for the interpretations and innovations of the myths, Keats expressed his views and discussed the ideals and ideas of himself between the lines, such as the replacement of the forest gods and philosophy which would clip an Angel’s wings. Besides the Greek mythological background, the three poems also had one thing in common: Keats explicitly or implicitly exhibited his ideals of poetry and national dreams. In Personal aspects, Keats wished to be a disciple of Apollo, or more directly, became Apollo, the god of poetry and prophecy himself; from the perspective of national dreams, Keats prophesied that the English(Romantic) poetry would go beyond the ancient Greek literature and occupy the Forest of Poetry; furthermore, England would also rise as the sea power of the world. Given time, Keats might not only become increasingly conservative, he would become a supporter and eulogizer of the cause of the Empire.