"A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness." Following the famous and enigmatic opening of John Keats' epic "Endymion," which spans nearly 4,000 verses and was published in London in 1818, an ancient rural scene unfolds, line by line, couplet by couplet, featuring trees, streams, and shepherds. The shepherds gather around an altar to pray to Pan. While the young ones sing and dance, the elders discuss their ideas of the afterlife. However, Endymion, the "brain-sick shepherd prince," is in a trance-like state. What troubles him? He tells his sister Peona about a dream in which he encounters the unfamiliar Cynthia and falls hopelessly in love with her—unaware of who Cynthia truly is... This is one of the central themes in the life of the English Romantic poet John Keats.