Apocryphal Works

[Endymion]

Are there any other poems (apart from the ones in the back of the Penguin "Complete Poems" edition) that are attributed to Keats?

The reason I ask this is that I came across these lines in a fictional book I was reading and I can't find them anywhere else:

"Now that I have tasted her sweet soul to the core
All other depths are shallow, essences
Once spiritual, are like muddy lees
Fit only to sink my earthly root
And make my branches lift a golden fruit
Into the bloom of heaven."

It is Keatsian in nature, although somehow not, don't you think?

Any ideas??

BTW the book was "Endymion" by Dan Simmons, which is part of a science fiction story taking Hyperion and Endymion as the basis for a completely new fictional work. Actually, an excellent series (4 novels) if you're into that sort of thing.

[Despondence]

Endymion: I don't know the answer to your question, but I'd like to add my comments on Simmons' books.

I read Simmons' Hyperion/Endymion books a while ago, and while being modern works of fiction (albeit truly fantastic ones!) I must still admit that they strongly revived my interest in Keats and prompted me to start reading his Letters, in an attampt to identify exactly those passages which you are referring to. After a while, I more and more forgot about correlating with Simmons' books (having encountered nothing matching which I did not already know about), and went over to just reading and enjoying the Letters.

Conversely, while reading Simmons I had not Keats' poems fresh in mind either, so I was not always aware whence the poems came with which Simmons sprinkled his fiction, but my impression was that of a mixture of Hyperion, Endymion and lesser known verses or quotes, likely from letters.

But you gotta love Silenus, that foul-mouthed satyr of a crank - somehow he comes out as the flip side of Keats

[Despondence]

Oh, and one thing I just remembered - I encountered this line in Simmons' Endymion :

Only the dreamer venoms all his days,
bearing more woe than all his sins deserve.

This strikes me as a very powerful insight into self, conveying a woeful recognition about the inescapable hardships of being, when being requires virtuousness. Can someone tell me if this is from Keats' own pen, and if so, where it comes from?

[Thilo]

Hello Despondence and Endymion

Only the dreamer venoms all his days,
bearing more woe than all his sins deserve.

That is from "The Fall of Hyperion", a sequel to "Hyperion", which Keats wrote in 1819 but never finished. You find it on this site at
http://www.john-keats.com/gedichte/the_fall_of_hyperion.htm.

And as for the lines you quoted, Endymion:

"Now that I have tasted her sweet soul to the core
All other depths are shallow, essences
Once spiritual, are like muddy lees
Fit only to sink my earthly root
And make my branches lift a golden fruit
Into the bloom of heaven."

They are from Endymion, Part II.
You find them on John-Keats.com at this link:
http://www.john-keats.com/gedichte/endymion_ii.htm

Yours,
Thilo

[Despondence]

All right! Thanks, Thilo - I had completely neglected this piece, which I definitely shall have to look into now.

[Endymion]

That's great! Thanks Despondence & Thilo.

I found that I misquoted that line slightly. Here's the correct version:

Now I have tasted her sweet soul to the core
All other depths are shallow: essences,
Once spiritual, are like muddy lees,
Meant but to fertilize my earthly root,
And make my branches lift a golden fruit
Into the bloom of heaven:

Thilo, something tells me you are familiar with the Hyperion cantos?
Despondence, has this book been translated into Swedish, or did you read it in English?

If you know of any good websites about this series I would appreciated it if you could post the link.

[Despondence]

I read it in English, I don't know whether it was translated to Swedish; given its succes I'd suspect so (Hugo+Nebula awards for the first book, I believe?). I'm afraid I do not know of any web sites related to Simmons' series - probably mainly because I haven't looked. I'd be interested in this myself.

But I thought I might show this to you, as it seems you might be into this sort of thing: someone posted a link to this on rec.arts.sf.written some time ago

http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/

The guy advertised it as "a good quick read involving AI and transcendence". Embarrassingly though, I've been altogether too tied-up lately to read it myself, but I mean to eventually - maybe you'll get there ahead of me and tell me what you thought of it

cheers