Hyperion における "Nature's law"

Abstract

Keats shows us three stages in history in Hyperion : the first is the world which Titans conquered; the second, the world of Saturn; the third, the world of the Olympian gods. In Hyperion the change from the world of Saturn to that of the Olympian gods is depicted and the process pictured in Oceanus' speech reminds us of Keats' idea of human life. He compared human life to a "large Mansinon of Many Apartments" and the kingdom of Saturn corresponds to the second room, "the Chamber of Maiden Thought" where beauty is considred a supreme law. Although Oceanus thinks that the law of beauty is almighty in all periods of history, we find that beauty is no longer absolute for the Olympian gods in Book III. It may be said that he makes a serious mistake to believe that beauty is the principal law in every stage of history when he regards beauty as a "Nature's law" and "eternal truth". The idea of "Nature's law" which implies the progress toward the perfect beauty is too romantic and naive to become the dominant law of Hyperion. The romantic view of Nature in Oceanus' speech includes a factor which made Hyperion unfinished.