M. L. _ THEsI_s / THE PERSISTENCE OF "ENDYMI ON" UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA CATARINA Departamento de Língua e Literatura Estrangeiras ' V ...› .;›.- ~..› z«-U... .. ..( T H E P E R S I S T E N C E O E " E N D Y M I O N " ,`/ ~ bw» ~ ~ €ese“submetida ã Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina ' para a obtençao do grau de ~ MESTRE EM LETRAS Futin Bufrara Antunes Junho ~ 1976 \ Esta Tese foi julgada adequada para a obtenção do ' título de _ MEsTRE*EM LETRAS' Especialidade Língua Inglesa e Literatura Correspondente e aprovada em sua forma final pelo Programa de Põs+Graduação - Prof. John Bruce Derrick, Ph. D Orientador ` _ ` VProf, Paulino Vandresen, Ph. D ', Integrador do Curso Apresentada perante a Comissão Examinadora composta dos professores ' \ Bruce D \ Prof. John Derrick, Ph. _ o V , , i A \ 2 VProf. Arnold Selig o enstein, Ph. D \. P _ prof. Thoàâs/šddie Cowin, MA ._.-..`. ..._... ,_ ___, ..._ ,,_› _ I `A.G RlA D E-C I M E N T O S. à UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA ÇATARINA pelas condiçoes proporcionadas para frequentar o Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras A_. p opor- à UNIVERSIDADE EEDERAL Do PARANÁ pela ~tunidade de_cursar algumas disciplinas A V ' ›compiementares . ,¡1 _ BRUCE.DERRICK.'p E Em especial ao professor JOHN ¿pela orientação e estímulo recebidos durante - .VÍa realização deste trabalhoí -a¿;¿`zif}ä.Hf¿~ A B S T R 'A C T J' . In the myth of the moon-goddess and her lover Endymion, _ Keats devised his basic allegory of human development. Despite A critics who charge that the poem is immature and unrelated to his _ , later work, the metaphor of Endymion's pilgrimage through several regions of the earth is later extended into themes and images which lend dimension to Keatsí major poetry. A close parallel , . _ between "Endymion" and "Hyperion", "The Fall of Hyperion", and "Lamia" -- works in which his imaginative powers are acknowledged by critics -- discloses that in the earlier poem Keats not only created sensuous/beauty, but established the staged progression which is going to dominate and define his later works.. In_ "Endymion" we find Keats' questions and answers about lite and man which he expressed in his remarkable letters. This way, this poem is valuable in itself and for the evidence it provides that the poet's myth of quest shapes both his later critical theory. and poetry) and represents a persisting frame of mind, ' fi O a R E' S 'U M O ~ No mito da deusa lua e seu amor Endymion; Keats ideou sua alegoria básica de desenvolvimento humano. Apesar de crí- ~ _ ticos que julgam o poema imaturo e nao relacionado ao trabalho posterior do poeta, vemos que a metáfora da peregrinação de Endymion através de várias regiões da terra ê estendida nos temas e imagens que dão dimensão ã poesia maior de Keats. Um paralelo Íntimo entre "Endymion" e "Hyperion", "The Fall of - Hyperion", e "Lamia" -- poemas nos quais suas faculdades cria- tivas são reconhecidas pela crítica -- revela que em “Endymion" Keats não apenas criou beleza que agrada aos sentidos, como estabeleceu a marcha gradual e progressiva que vai dominar e definir sua poesia posterior. Em "Endymion" nos encontramos as perguntas e respostas sobre a vida e o homem que Keats expressa em suas cartas famosas. Desta forma este poema tem seu valor intínseco e ë também importante por evidenciar que o mito da procura dã forma ã sua teoria crítica e poesia mais recentes e representa ainda um estado mental que persiste. ` A .*T A`B L E ,.O F 'C-O N T E N T S CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION z . O Q 0 O 1 _ 1 ` " " I.I Criticism and Endymion U Q O O 2 ` I.2 Statement of Purpose . 7 IÇ3 .The Moon-Symbol and Some \ ' Biographical Elements . .ll " " CHAPTER 2 ENDYMION : AN ASSESSMENT . 16 CHAPTER-3 GETTING WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING : A .KEATS POETICAL THEORIES AND THE QUEST- ` u o I 0 0 0 c 0 a a O O a 30 3.1 Early Years . ... 0 O 0 30 ' 3.2 'Intensity ot Vision . O 0 0 35 '3.d Unorthodox-Platonism . 0 n O 45 / ~ . Tendencies' 147 . Common . 0 a 1 A 3.4 . "W " * g`. CHAPTER 4 HYPERION . 0 u O 50 " " CHAPTER 5 THE FALL OF HYPERION . O u 0 ¿_õ`4 " " .'.`; CHAPTER 6 LAMIA . ¡ . 0 0 O 32 coNcLUsIoN 0 I O 103 I .4 ›I- ' 110 ' O I O 5 I O O O Í O O I 0 O 0 REFERENCES . 0 0 Q 118 BIBLIOGRAPHICAL _ -1 . ~ CHAPTER I I N T R D C T-I O'N O U _ . Though John Keats' literary career was very brief, at the time of his death he was on his way to becoming, so to speak, a classical romantic, for in his later poetry Romanticism was given form by an apollonian concern with craftsmanship. He had but four years, from 1816, when he started his more valuable poetic to output, 1819, when bad health and deep depression. troubled his days, to produce poetry which would place him beside the greatest names in English literature. ' Q Keats is best known for his famous Odes of 1819; the 1 "Ode to'a Nightingale", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", and "Ode on "Melancholy" have been overdiscussed by a great number of critics who leave no doubt as to their literary merit. Keats' longer poems (excepting the "Eve of St.-Agnes") are less known by readers, and not so exploited by the critics. The quality of the longer poems have been acknowledged by some and question- ed by_others. Thus, I believe that at present, a discussion of. Keats' poetry should focus on his long narrative_poems in order ' to achieve some originality. , "Endymion" is his longest composition - it contains __ V 4,050 verses - written in 1817; it is an early production. I may venture to say that with the exception ofga few famous passages, _ P V ¬2. p x . \ , . _ N g › › __ "Endymion" is not a popular poem for two reasons: first, its Í length does not encourage a thorough reading; second, it is commonly considered as a failure, the production of an over- exuberant and sensuous genius, and thus not worthwhile examin-, ' * ' * » ing earnestly. _ _ » However, after a careful reading of the long poem, I was rewarded by a consciousness of something important concern- ' ›ing Keats and his literary creation of 1818-1819 - the poet's z "Living Year", to use R. Gittings' expression 1: "Endymion"'s thematic pattern and symbols are repeated, to a varying degree, in his major works written between September, 1818, to September," 1819, yet this fact has not been sufficiently stressed. 1.1 CRITICISM AND ENDYMION Since its publication in April 1818 "Endymion" has been ' 8 “ severely criticized as a work of art.- ' `._ _ Keats' own preface (dated April 16, 1817) is perplexing to the "Endymion" reader, for the poet speaks of as a p feverish attempt, rather than a deed accomplished... the foundations are-too sandy... ~ . , The imagination of a boy is healthy,_ and the _ ' mature imagination of a man is healthy; but there - is a space between, in which the soul is in ferment, . the character undecided, the way of life uncertain, "the ambition thick-sighted: thence proceeds mawkish- ness, and all the thousand bitters which those men - _ I speak of must necessarily taste in going over the following 2 ' pages. V , The poet thus wrote to Hessey, his publisher, about the ' - poem and the discouraging criticism it raised: - 3_ _ . 1 I - ... It is as good as~I had power to make it by myself. Had I been nervous about its being_ ¡ a perfect piece, and with that view asked ' advice, and trembled over every page, it would not have been written; for it is not in my - nature to fumble - I will write independently. - I have written independently without judge- ment. I may write independently and with judgee A ment hereafter. The Genius of Poetry must work out its own Salvation inva man. It cannot be matured by law and precept but by Sensation and watchfulness in itself e In Endymion, I leaped headlong into the sea, and thereby have become' better acquainted with the soundings, the_quick- - and the rocks, than if I had stayed upon sands, X I was never afraid of failu re; the green shore, ... _ for I would sooner fail than not be among the 3 greatest. _ he had written to Haydon that he wa s tired _ Furthermore, of "Endymion" and was.eager to finish it in order to wri te a new romance which would be enriched by the fruit of his expe rience 4 in "Endymion". His words thus make critics believe tha t the author is rejecting his own composition. ` i'› .The sharpest reaction against the poem was regis tered by Keats' contemporary reviewers J. G. Lockhart (who sig ned him- self inimically "Z"), from the Blackwood's Edinburgh Mag azine, f E ~ Review;` 1 and John Croker, from The Quarterly _ on the " Cockney - Lockhart published a series of articles V In one these he says ' _* School of Poetry". _ ` i _ / _ g Of all the manias of this mad age, the most - incurable, as well as the most common, seems \ to witness to be niother than the Metromania... I understanding however feebl . disease of any human ¢« ~' is distressing; but the`spectacle of an able min d reduced to a state of insanity is of course ten afflicting.