Endymion

poem by Keats

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June 26, 2026

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"Endymion" is a long poem by John Keats, published in 1818. It is based on a Greek myth about a beautiful youth named Endymion who was loved by the moon goddess Selene. In the poem, Keats focuses on Endymion's love for the goddess, exploring themes of ideal love and the quest for transcendence. While Keats's early work, including "Endymion," was characterized by rich, sensuous description, he aimed to discipline his style in later poems. The poem is written in loose rhymed couplets and is divided into four sections.12

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John Keats
Early works
…Canterbury and began work on Endymion, his first long poem. On his return to London he moved into lodgings in Hampstead with his brothers. Endymion appeared in 1818. This work is divided into four 1,000-line sections, and its verse is composed in loose rhymed couplets. The poem narrates a version…
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…Canterbury and began work on Endymion, his first long poem. On his return to London he moved into lodgings in Hampstead with his brothers. Endymion appeared in 1818. This work is divided into four 1,000-line sections, and its verse is composed in loose rhymed couplets. The poem narrates a version…
Read More

Paradise Lost
…and John Keats’s long poem Endymion. Milton wrote a companion piece, Paradise Regained, in 1671, which dramatizes the temptation of Christ.
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…and John Keats’s long poem Endymion. Milton wrote a companion piece, Paradise Regained, in 1671, which dramatizes the temptation of Christ.
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English literature
The later Romantics: Shelley, Keats, and Byron
…his early work, such as Endymion (1818), could produce an over-luxuriant, cloying effect. As the program set out in his early poem “Sleep and Poetry” shows, however, Keats was determined to discipline himself: even before February 1820, when he first began to cough blood, he may have known that he…
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…his early work, such as Endymion (1818), could produce an over-luxuriant, cloying effect. As the program set out in his early poem “Sleep and Poetry” shows, however, Keats was determined to discipline himself: even before February 1820, when he first began to cough blood, he may have known that he…
Read More