Résumé
Résumé de Endymion : romance poétique
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love Greek myth, rich description and the early Romantic poets, and for anyone curious about how Keats began.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Endymion is a long poem by John Keats, published in 1818 when he was twenty-two. It runs to about four thousand lines in rhyming couplets, and it was his first large work. Keats took an old Greek myth, the love of the moon goddess for a mortal shepherd, and spun it into a wandering dream of desire, loss and wonder. He wrote it in 1817 in places as different as the Isle of Wight, Oxford and Hampstead, and he gave himself a hard task: to fill four books with invention.
The poem gives you a young poet testing his powers in public. You meet a shepherd prince on Mount Latmos, a goddess he cannot name, caves under the earth, and a palace under the sea. You also meet a set of ideas that Keats cared about all his life, including the lasting force of beauty and the pull between earthly love and something higher. The poem opens with one of the best-known sentences in English verse. Let us start where Keats starts, on a green hillside during a festival.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A shepherd prince is haunted by a dreamFree
- 2He follows his dream beneath the earth
- 3An old man under the sea needs his help
- 4Two loves pull him in different directions
- 5Beauty, love and the pull of the ideal
- 6A young poet's music, flaws and all
Point clé 1 sur 6
A shepherd prince is haunted by a dream
The poem opens with a statement about beauty. Keats says that a lovely thing is a joy for ever, that it does not fade into nothing, and that it keeps a quiet place of rest for us, full of sweet dreams and health. From this idea he moves into the story. Endymion is a young shepherd prince who lives on Mount Latmos in Greece, and the people of the region are gathering for a festival of the god Pan.
At the festival the old priest leads the crowd in a hymn to Pan. Keats pours his best nature writing into it. Pan is the god of woods, flocks, hills and the quiet corners of the countryside, and the hymn praises him as the one who stands behind all of these. The crowd kneels, the singing ends, and the games begin.
But Endymion sits apart, pale and silent. He does not join the sports. His sister Peona sees his sorrow and follows him, and she asks what is wrong. She is gentle and practical, and she is the first of the people who will try to bring him back to ordinary life.
Peona takes him by boat to a small island with a quiet bower, and there Endymion begins to tell his dream. He saw a vision of a woman more lovely than any on earth, and for a time he floated with her among the clouds. When he woke, the world seemed dull and empty. Peona listens and doubts, and this tension between a dreamer and a sensible sister runs through the first book.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Endymion : romance poétique
What is Endymion by John Keats about?
It tells of Endymion, a young shepherd prince who dreams of a lovely goddess and travels over land, under the earth and sea, and through the sky to find her. Along the way he meets other lovers and learns about suffering.
Who was Endymion in Greek myth?
In Greek myth Endymion was a beautiful young shepherd, often placed on Mount Latmos, whom the moon goddess Selene, called Cynthia or Phoebe in Keats, loved as he slept. Keats builds his own story on this tale.
What does A thing of beauty is a joy for ever mean?
It is the opening line of Endymion. Keats means that true beauty never really fades and goes on giving comfort and happiness, which sets up the poem's belief that beauty has lasting value.
Why was Endymion criticised when it came out?
Reviewers in magazines of 1818 attacked it for its loose style and for Keats's place in a circle of writers they disliked. Keats himself admitted the poem was uneven, but he did not give up poetry.
Is Endymion hard to read?
Reading it in one book at a time and aloud helps. The language is rich but the story follows a clear quest.