Class XII, ENGLISH, Poems, "Endymion"

Reference The lines given for explanation have been extracted from the poem entitled Endymion, composed by John Keats.
About the Poet
John Keats is one of the finest English poets. In spite of living only for twenty-six years, he contributed a lot to English Poetry. His poems are spirited and lively. His personal life was a tale of sorrow and bereavement, but his keen observant eye made him an admirer of nature, which is fully reflected in his poems.
About the Poem
Endymion is poem of great beauty. In this poem John Keats has expressed his conception of beauty and has given a unique definition of beauty. According to Classical Mythology Endymion was a beautiful youth with whom moon Goddess fell in love and on whom she induced a perpetual sleep in order to kiss him without his knowledge.
Lines
A thing of beauty is a joy forever ————— Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breating
Explanation
“Beauty is a divine gift.”
– J. Seigell
In these oft-quoted famous opening lines of the poem, Keats is giving vent to his views on the concept of beauty and its influence on human life. He believes that an object of rare and real beauty communicates to human soul the message of lasting joy and eternal relief. Beauty is immortal like truth; it never dies and fades. The charm of a lovely object is unaffected by time. This charm goes on increasing with the flight of time.
The poet says that beauty always remains a constant source of peace and joy. It has a refreshing, soothing and healthy impact on human life. It will keep a quiet and shady place for us and induce a sound sleep keeps us healthy and enables us to breathe freely.
The poet wants to say that life is full of pains and sufferings; still we cling to it because of the compensations offered to us in some form of beauty. Thus the presence of beautiful objects around us is an eternal source of comfort and happiness.
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all,
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.”
Lines
Therefore, on every marrow, we are wreathing ——– Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
Explanation
“Beauty moves away the pall from our dark spirits.”
In these lines, Keats gives vent to his strong romantic faith that a real and rare objects of beauty have the power to make us forget our sorrows and griefs as they take us away from the world of bitter realities into the world of imagination.
Therefore, Keats says that an every day we wreathe a flowery band in order to join ourselves with the earth, which is an unattractive and unhappy place. In his famous novel Thomas Hardy, an eminent Victorian novelist and poet says that this world is a Blighted Star meaning that this world is full of difficulties, hardships, troubles and griefs. Man can never be happy in this problem-plagued World. John Keats expresses the same ideas but with a difference. And it is beauty, which makes all the difference.
According to Keats the world is an unattractive, place full of griefs and troubles. There is shortage of men and women of good character and noble thoughts. Darkness is prevailing every where. So, life is full of sorrow, disappointment and disease. But in spite of all this, some shape of beauty, whether in nature, human history or literature removes the darkness from the world. Beauty dispels darkness, beauty makes us happy; beauty gives us courage to bear the difficulties and hardships of life and take interest in the world.
In these thought-provoking lines Keats describes the realities of the world but at the same time he does not forget beauty which makes a person forgetful of his griefs and worries. Not doubt beauty removes the pall from our dark spirits.
Lines
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms ———- Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.
Explanation
In these concluding lines, Keats gives vent to his strong romantic faith that real objects of beauty, whether in nature, human history or literature, have the power to make us forget our sorrows and griefs as they take us away from the world of bitter realities into the world of imagination.
He refers to various shapes of beauty, which please us and make us forgetful of our griefs and worries. He says that the grand deaths and the splendid destinies we have imagined for the brave heroes of history are also beautiful because they too inspire us to deeds of nobility and fortitude. Similarly, works of art and literature created over centuries are also a thing of beauty. All lovely trails which we have read or heard and beautiful objects of art are permanent source of endless joy. These tales give us great pleasure and we forget the depressions and agonies of life. Thus all these visions of beauty are like an endless fountain which gives an immortal drink to our thirsty souls.
In the concluding lines, Keats says that beauty is something unearthly. It is being showered upon mankind from the heaven like a Divine blessing.
“Beauty is a conopy for the suffering souls.”
– Trolope