Endymion (Keats)

Endymion is an epic poem by John Keats, first published in 1818 . Keats based the poem on the Greek myth of the beautiful shepherd Endymion , who is loved by the moon goddess Selene . The latter, however, has the name "Cynthia" at Keats.

History of origin

Keats started work on the Isle of Wight in April 1817 , but did not get going as desired and left after a week. For "Endymion" early on, he envisaged a form of four books of around 1000 lines each. The first two books were finished in August 1817, at which point his work rate had settled at fifty lines a day. During the breaks he read Milton and Wordsworth . His main place of writing was in Hampstead , where he began the fourth and final book in early October, but after difficulties and increasing doubts about his text needed another break and left for Burford Bridge , where he finished on November 28th. He spent the winter correcting himself, and the poem finally appeared in print at the end of April 1818.

reception

Apart from three well-meaning reviews, all of which came from Keats' circle of friends, "Endymion" was received with rejection and incomprehension. The erotic aura of the text provoked reviews from the conservative milieu, particularly through the influential Quarterly magazine . But also great poets like Lord Byron, who had to fight no less than Keats with social narrow-mindedness, refused to support the text: Byron even responded with the outburst "Johnny Keats's p_ss a bed poetry." Only long after Keats' death was the allegorical content of the work extensively appreciated, particularly through Frances M. Owen's study "John Keats: A Study", which appeared in London in 1880.

present

The biographical film Bright Star (2009, German title: "Meine Liebe. Ewig") by the Australian director Jane Campion begins at the time when Keats (played by Ben Whishaw ) has just released "Endymion" and despite the hurtful reviews , is already busy with new projects. Fanny Brawne (played by Abbie Cornish ) purchases a copy of the shopkeeper and after a short reading begins to believe in Keats' genius, although she herself has no particular literary education. Their love inspires Keats to write his best poems before a tuberculosis disease puts an early end to his life.

literature

Steinhoff, Stephen T. (1987): Keat's Endymion : A Critical Edition. The Whitston Publishing Company Troy, New York.