These necessities were not present in this form to Keats's mind when he
began 'Hyperion'; most probably he began merely with the idea of holding
his own with Milton, and with a delight in an apt and congenial theme.
Keats was not a poet of definite and deliberate plans, which indeed are
incident to a certain tenuity of soul; his decisions were taken not by
the intellect, but by the being.
He dropped 'Hyperion' because it was inadequate to the whole of him. He
was weary of its deliberate art because it interposed a veil between him
and that which he needed to express; it was an imposition upon himself.
'I have given up "Hyperion"--there were too many Miltonic inversions
in it--Miltonic verse cannot be written but in an artful, or rather
artist's, humour. I wish to give myself up to other sensations.
English ought to be kept up. It may be interesting to you to pick
out some lines from "Hyperion" and a mark + to the false beauty
proceeding from art and one || to the true voice of
feeling.
Pages:
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105