Hyperion, a Fragment is an abandoned epic poem by 19th-century English Romantic poet John Keats. It was published in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems (1820). It is based on the Titanomachia, and tells of the despair of the Titans after their fall to the Olympians. Keats wrote the poem from late 1818 until the spring of 1819. The poem stops abruptly in the middle of the third book, with close to 900 lines having been completed. He gave it up as having "too many Miltonic inversions." He was also nursing his younger brother Tom, who died on 1 December 1818 of tuberculosis.
Keats picked up the ideas again in his unfinished poem The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream (1856), published after his death. He attempted to recast the epic by framing it with a personal quest to find truth and understanding.
These poems were Keats' final attempt to reconcile his perceived conflict between mortal decay and absolute value.
Style
The language of Hyperion is very similar to Milton's, in metre and style. However, his characters are quite different. Although Apollo falls into the image of the "Son" from Paradise Lost and of "Jesus" from Paradise Regained, he does not directly confront Hyperion as Satan is confronted. Also, the roles are reversed, and Apollo is deemed as the "challenger" to the throne, who wins it by being more "true" and thus, more "beautiful."
Extract
From Book I, lines spoken by the Titan Hyperion:
Reception
The poem and the volume that contained it met positive reception upon publication. As of 2022, it is considered one of the most important works of Romantic poetry.