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How did John Milton’s Paradise Lost influence Hyperion?
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John Keats
John Keats, drawing by Joseph Severn, 19th century.
John Keats consciously sought to emulate the epic loftiness of John Milton’s Paradise Lost in his own epic fragment, Hyperion, as he wanted to move away from the "luxuriant wandering" style of his earlier work, Endymion.1
The influence of Paradise Lost is evident in several ways:
- Structural Parallels: The poem begins with the Titans already fallen, mirroring the state of Milton’s fallen angels.1
- Character Archetypes: Hyperion, the sun god, is presented as the Titans' primary hope for resistance, functioning similarly to Milton’s depiction of Satan.1
- Stylistic Choices: Keats incorporated numerous "Miltonisms" of style throughout the work.1
Ultimately, Keats became dissatisfied with this influence, feeling the style was too "Miltonic" and restrictive to his own creative voice. Consequently, he abandoned the first version of Hyperion to pursue what he described as "other sensations," and he significantly subdued these stylistic imitations in his revised version, The Fall of Hyperion.12