Endymion: A Poetic Romance

In Endymion, Keats explores several different kinds of dreams—daydreams and average dreams during sleep, as well as more profound visions and hope. The shepherds and their community discuss their dreams of Elysium (heaven) after the ritual to Pan. They “wander’d, by divine converse, / Into Elysium; viewing to rehearse / Each one his own anticipated bliss” (Lines 371-73). These dreams are spoken aloud while the dreamers are awake during the day, and feature members of the community who have died. These dreams, or wishes for the future, keep the dead in the lives of their loved ones and offer a sense of togetherness. In other words, Pan’s worshipers bond over discussing their dreams of the afterlife.

However, Endymion does not share his dreams with the others. Before he enters his trance, others guess that his mind is full of these daydreams. As he travels to the ritual, he seems to “common lookers on, like one who dreamed / Of idleness in groves Elysian” (Lines 167-77). This marks daydreams about the afterlife as common, something that is associated with a gentle smile and far-away gaze. The reader later learns that Endymion is actually pining away over a very different kind of dream—the vision of his beloved, the moon goddess.