When the chill rain begins at shut of eve,
In dull November, and their chancel vault,
The heaven itself, is blinded throughout night.
This Keats, and Keats alone, could do; and his achievement is unique in throwing all the glamour of romance over a fragment 'sublime as Aeschylus'.
NOTES ON HYPERION.
Book I.
Page 145. II. 2-3. By thus giving us a vivid picture of the changing day—at morning, noon, and night—Keats makes us realize the terrible loneliness and gloom of a place too deep to feel these changes.
I. 10. See how the sense is expressed in the cadence of the line.
Page 146. I. 11. voiceless. As if it felt and knew, and were deliberately silent.
II. 13, 14. Influence of Greek sculpture. See Introduction, p. 248.
I. 18. nerveless . . . dead. Cf. Eve of St. Agnes, I. 12, note.
I. 19. realmless eyes. The tragedy of his fall is felt in every feature.
II. 20, 21. Earth, His ancient mother. Tellus. See Introduction, p. 244.
Page 147. 1. 27. Amazon. The Amazons were a warlike race of women of whom many traditions exist. On the frieze of the Mausoleum (British Museum) they are seen warring with the Centaurs.
1. 30. Ixion's wheel. For insolence to Jove, Ixion was tied to an ever-revolving wheel in Hell.
