climactic image. Ixion, having boasted that Hera loved him, was bound to a great wheel forever rolling in the air. (256.) 74. Tall oaks, branch-charmed by the earnest stars: The quietude of the "trancèd summer-night" (line 72) is summed up in the massive stillness of the oaks. The branches, to one who stands and looks upward, seem charmed into motionlessness by the intensely quiet stars that appear among them. — In its rich suggestiveness, the passage is a good example of the modern feeling for nature. 95. spouse of gold Hyperion: Thea, "a daughter of Uranus and Terra" (Heaven and Earth), "married her brother Hyperion, by whom she had the sun, the moon, Aurora, etc." (Lemprière, tenth American ed.) "Hyperion is often taken by the poets for the sun itself" (Lemprière). 105. nervous: sinewy, strong, - the original sense. 118. space starred, and lorn of light: that region of space which is lighted by stars, and that region which is deprived of light. (257.) 131. strings in hollow shells: lyres made with tortoise shells. 133. I will give command where is Saturn?: Saturn, in bewildered excitement, identifies himself with the real and strong "self" which seemed, in his despair, to have parted from him utterly (line 113 ff.). Then, remembering his helplessness, he wonders again where the real Saturn can be. 145. Where is another chaos?: i.e., to serve as material for a new world. 147. The rebel three: Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune. associated with things antipathetic to the sun-god: cold and gloom, marsh and mist. 273-274. the glancing spheres etc.: Keats has in mind the shifting circles and other forms which appear in the sun when looked at with the naked eye. (The term "colure" he seems to be using in a sense of his own, not in its proper astronomical sense of a circle in the celestial sphere, as it was used by Milton, "Paradise Lost," IX, 66, from whom he doubtless derived the word.) 277-280. hieroglyphics old many centuries: Pursuing a fancy suggested by these figured lights cast by the sun, Keats fables that they were copied and interpreted by successive sages in ancient sign-writings. Their wisdom, now lost to us, was won by gazing upon these sun forms through many centuries. 297-298. the porches wide Opened etc.: i.e., the eastern portals of Hyperion's palace, as in lines 264-268. 307. Coelus: the same as Uranus, god of the sky, "an ancient deity, supposed to be the father of Saturn, Oceanus, Hyperion, etc. He was son of Terra, whom he afterwards married" (Lemprière). He 315-316. And at the fruits thereof, what shapes they be etc.: Coelus wonders at the offspring of himself and Terra (Earth), since, unlike their parents, they have distinct and beautiful shapes. knows that they were really formed by mysterious powers greater than their parents (lines 309-312) — that they manifest a "beauteous life" which is unseen and eternal (lines 316-318). (260.) 319. new-formed: Supply "shapes" from line 315. 323. first-born: Saturn. "Hymn to Pan," first stanza (page 236); and the "Epistle to Reynolds," line 94 ff. (page 238). Does this sense appear in Wordsworth's, Byron's, ог Shelley's poetry? (For example, see the mountainscene in "Prometheus Unbound," Act First, line 31 ff., page 182). (261.) 19-20. Coeus etc.: Titans. "The most known of the Titans are Saturn, Hyperion, Oceanus, Iapetus, Cottus, and Briareus, to whom Horace adds Typhoeus, Mimas, Porphyrion, Rhœtus, and Enceladus" (Lemprière). 28. gurge: whirlpool. for 34-35. a dismal cirque lorn moor: The gigantic fallen Titans are compared with the circle of vast stones used by the Druids as a sacred place, the most famous being on Salisbury Plain in the south of England. Without cover, these temples had for their altar-roofing ("chancel vault," line 37) the over-arching sky. Keats had in mind the Druid stones near Keswick in the Lake District, which he had visited at "shut of eve" (line 36). 45. plashy: speckled. 53-54. Asia – – – Tellus: Asia, a Titaness, was born of Tethys, who was born of Tellus (Earth). Caf (or Kaf), whom Keats here makes the mother of Asia, was a vast mountain in Asiatic fable. -Keats's brief sketch of Asia (lines 5663) is enough to suggest that, had he developed her character, she would have been very different from the Asia of Shelley; see "Prometheus Unbound" (page 195) and note (page 687). 61. Even as Hope etc.: Does this image suit the present atmosphere? a 64. shelve: slope or ridge. 66. Shadowed: loomed like gloomy shadow. Enceladus (usually identified with Typhon, line 20) was the strongest and fiercest of the giants. Compare Moloch in "Paradise Lost," Book II. 74-78. Phorcus etc.: Phorcus, a Titan sea-deity, was father of the three frightful maidens known as Gorgons. Clymene was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys; later is mentioned her "mouthed shell" (line 270). — In the midst of all the fallen Titans lie Themis, "a daughter of Coelus and Terra, who" subsequently "married Jupiter against her own inclination" (Lemprière); and "Ops the queen," identical with Cybele (line 4). (262.) 92-98. the supreme God - A disanointing poison: Here and elsewhere Keats emphasizes the idea that calmness, above the clash of passions, is properly divine. With this passage compare Book First of this poem, lines 328-340 (page 260). 134. Uranus: the same as "Coelus" (Book First, line 307 ff., page 259). (263.) 163. Oceanus: the only Titan, according to the ancient story, who had not joined in war against the Olympians. 165. astonied: amazed than the modern "astonished"). (stronger 168. from no Athenian grove: The insight of Oceanus proceeds, not from converse such as Athenian sophists and sages enjoyed, but from solitary “cogitation in his watery shades." 170. with locks not oozy: because, his place usurped by Neptune, he was enforced "to bid sad farewell" to his empire, the ocean; he has joined the downcast Titans to study their woe and give consolation as appears presently (lines 232243). 191-199. From chaos and parental darkness etc.: According to Greek myth, in the beginning was Chaos, a confused mass, the mother of Erebos and Night. Erebos and Night, who were brother and sister, became the parents of Æther and Hemera (Day). Cf. "Paradise Lost," VII, 233249; II, 890 ff. (264.) 203-205. to bear all naked truths the top of sovereignty: See note to page 262, line 92, above. Our 208-211. we show beyond purer life: We evidently surpass parents, in our compact form, will, free action, etc. 215-217. Nor are we -- · shapeless Chaos: Is this a fair comparison? Does Keats approve Oceanus's line of argument? Or does he regard it as rather sophistical? (The speech of Belial (“Paradise Lost," II, 226-228), prototype of Oceanus in skill of tongue, Milton plainly regards as sophistical.) (264.) 228-229. the eternal law --- first in might: Cf. the "Ode on a Grecian Urn," stanza v (page 251). — Oceanus's speech thus carries to its completion the thought about beauty which was brought out through Coelus in the preceding Book. But Coelus's words, in keeping with his nature, were mystic, and not elaborately reasoned (lines 309-320, page 259). 244. pozed: old form of "posed," 248. Clymene. See line 76. 263. clime: whole atmosphere of the region. (265.) 304. Enceladus: The tenor of his ensuing speech was prepared for in lines 64-72, 107-109. loss of (266.) 333-334. For though realms: While scorning Oceanus's argument, Enceladus replies to it by asserting that his misery is not entirely due to loss of rule. He proceeds to recall the peace, innocence, and beauty of life that the Titans have lost. His idea seems to be that Jupiter and his brothers are not necessarily superior to the Titans in either beauty or might. Contrast lines 327-332 with lines 224-229. And see the note to lines 215-217, above. 358. beetling gloomy steeps: Cf. line 10. 374. Memnon's image: a huge statue called Memnon, in Egypt. It was said to give forth a harp-like sound (line 376) at sunrise. BOOK THIRD (267.) 10. Delphic harp: poetry, of which Apollo (whose most famous oracle was at Delphi) was the patron god commonly represented as holding the lyre ("harp") used by the Greeks in accompanying song and recitation. In line 13 he is called "the Father of all verse." 12. Dorian flute: Next to the lyre, the fute was the favorite musical instrument used for accompaniment; though first associated with Asia Minor, it was taken up by the Dorian peoples of Greece proper. (268.) 75. that bow heroic to all times: that bow symbolic, to all ages, of heroism. 82. Mnemosyne: Memory. She was one of the Titans, as indicated in Book Second, line 29 (page 261). But she became, by Jupiter, the mother of the Muses, a relationship expressing the bond between art and tradition.. To Mnemosyne, Apollo owes the gift of the lyre, according to Keats; usually, however, Apollo was said to have received it from Hermes or to have invented it himself. LAMIA Keats does not follow the old Greek legend of Lamia, a beautiful woman of whom Jove was enamored and whom Hera, out of jealousy, transformed into a child-devouring monster. Instead, he uses a late development of the legend, finding, in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), a reproduction of the tale as told by a third century author, Philostratus: "Philostratus, in his fourth book de Vita Apollonii, hath a memorable instance in this kind, which I may not omit, of one Menippus Lycius, a young man twenty-five years of age, that going betwixt Cenchreas and Corinth, met such a phantasm in the habit of a fair gentlewoman, which taking him by the hand, carried him home to her house, in the suburbs of Corinth, and told him she was a Phoenician by birth, and if he would tarry with her, he should hear her sing and play, and drink such wine as never any drank, and no man should molest him; but she, being fair and lovely, would live and die with him, that was fair and lovely to behold. The young man, a philosopher, otherwise staid and discreet, able to moderate his passions, though not this of love, tarried with her awhile to his great content, and at last married her, to whose wedding, amongst other guests, came Apollonius; who, by some probable conjectures, found her out to be a serpent, a lamia; and that all her furniture was, like Tantalus' gold, described by Homer, no substance, but mere illusions. When she saw herself descried, she wept, and desired Apollonius to be silent, but he would not be moved, and thereupon she, plate, house, and all that was in it, vanished in an instant: many thousands took notice of this fact, for it was done in the midst of Greece." This passage from Burton (which Keats printed as a note at the end of "Lamia") afforded the poet an admirable impetus for his characteristic art. Packed with subtle and swift description, eager in its emphasis on the senses and on the enchantments of love, full of yearning for the attainment of a perfect experience, the poem is a typical expression of the spirit of the early. nineteenth century through the magic art of Keats. The poet had been studying, with good effect, the couplet verse of Dryden; and his style here, though less ambitious than in "Hyperion" (composed nine months earlier), is generally more certain in its touch. PART FIRST and of (269.) 15-16. languid tritons adored: Triton, referred to in Wordsworth's sonnet "The World is Too Much With Us" (page 45), was son of Poseidon (Neptune), and a mighty sea-deity. Later mythology conceived a multiplicity tritons, with bodies fishlike from the waist down, attending the greater sea-gods- as the "hoofèd satyrs" (line 14) attended the wood-gods. Here the tritons are "languid" from the double cause suggested. 20. to choose: to choose from. The meaning of lines 19-20 is that no poet could imagine and describe such wonderful objects. 26. Fallen in jealous curls: His hair is disordered, as his form is ruddied, by his jealous eagerness and haste. 46. cirque-couchant: lying coiled. (270.) 47. gordian: intricate (like a gordian knot). 58. Ariadne's tiar: In the myth of Ariadne, Bacchus is said to have given her a crown of seven stars, which, when she died and was transfigured, became a constellation. 63. Proserpine still weeps for her Sicilian air: i.e., for the serene climate of Sicily, where she kad dwelt before carried off by Pluto to the darkness of Hades. 78. Phoebean dart: arrow (or sun ray) of Phoebus Apollo. 81. Star of Lethe: Hermes (Mercury), thus termed because his bright form was often seen in Hades, whither it was one of his functions to lead departed souls. 88. serpent-rod: Hermes' heraldstaff, or caduceus, given to him by Apollo; the white ribbons originally fastened to the staff were changed, in late artistic representations, into two serpents symmetrically placed. 103. bleared Silenus' sighs: Silenus, a satyr accompanying Bacchus, was a fat, jovial old man with a bald head, commonly intoxicated. (271.) 114. psalterian: musical, with Biblical connotation; hence appropriate after the preceding adjective ("devout"). The psaltery, mentioned in the Old Testament, was a harplike instrument. 115. Circean head: i.e., resembling that of the nymph Circe, the enchantress who entertained Ulysses voluptuously. 116. Blushed a line damask: Cf. lines 47-54; "damask" is a pure, luminous crimson, like that of the damask, rose. 123. The God-sank serene: At first he had hovered, impatiently; see lines 66-67. 133. the lithe caducean charmi He touched her with his rod; see note to line 88, above. 138. brede: See note to page 251, line 41, above. (272.) 193. their pettish limits: Pleasure and pain, as if fretfully or pettishly discontent with limits, are ever seeking to encroach on each other's territory (cf. "swift counterchange" in the next line). (272.) 198. still unshent: yet unspoiled and blameless (though artful); cf. line 192. 207. nereids: These daughters of Nereus and sisters of Thetis (line 208) were nymphs of the sea as the "naiads" (e.g., line 261, below; and "Hyperion," line 13, page 255) were nymphs of fresh water. 211. palatine: palatial, with, perhaps, a suggestion of the ancient Roman palaces and gardens on the Palatine Hill. 212. Mulciber's columns gleam in far piazzian line: Mulciber, or "hammer god," is the same as Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. In Homer he appears as the great artist of the gods, maker of shining buildings. far piazzian line images the long, low, many-columned structure of ancient temples and the like. (273.) 235-236. His phantasy Pla tonic shades: His thoughtless fancy gave way to musing upon the high mysteries of the Platonic philosophy. - Keats thinks of Lycius as frequenting, like other young Greeks, the Academic groves. 248, Orpheus-like at an Eurydice: With the passionate eagerness of Orpheus, when he could not forbear looking back at his wife on the way up from Hades, though the look made her vanish from him and return to the shades; see lines 253255. 265. a descended Pleiad: The Pleiads were seven virgin sisters, devoted to each other, who were metamorphosed into the constellation of that name. Keats associates them with the late-Greek idea of the music of the spheres (lines 266267). 1 (274.) 320. Adonian feast: festival in honor of Adonis, beloved of Venus (see line 317). Corinth was a centre of Venusworship. 329. peris: A peri, in Persian mythology, is a kind of fairy, descended from angels. 333. Pyrrha's pebbles: the stones thrown by Pyrrha from which a new race of women sprang up, after the deluge, in Greek mythology. (278.) 185. libbard's: leopard's. 187. Ceres' horn: Ceres was the goddess of grain and the harvests, - the fruits of the earth. The horn, or cornucopia (horn of plenty), really belongs, not to her, but to Amalthea; it had the power of becoming filled with whatever its possessor willed. (279.) 224. willow: symbolic of sorrow. 224. adder's tongue: popular name for a fern with a frond and fruiting spike which together suggest the mouth and tongue of a serpent; and for a number of plants, e.g., lily-of-the-valley, that superficially resemble this fern. 225-226. strip for him The thyrsus: i.e., crown him with ivy stripped from the staff of Bacchus (Dionysus). |