The Poet-Hero in the Work of Byron and Shelley

Madeleine Callaghan

Description

A study of the evolution of the poet-hero in the work of Byron and Shelley.

Byron’s and Shelley’s experimentation with the possibilities and pitfalls of poetic heroism unites their work. ‘The Poet-Hero in the Work of Byron and Shelley’ traces the evolution of the poet-hero in the work of both poets, revealing that the struggle to find words adequate to the poet’s imaginative vision and historical circumstance is their central poetic preoccupation. This area has never received monograph-length treatment. It has only been hinted at in scholarly work, with recent publications choosing to focus on genre, or instead, emphasize the collective, anti-individualist context of Romantic writing. But such attention to the collaborative realities of Romantic poetic production has overshadowed the poetry’s own claims for its status as made by a unique individual and, most significantly, by an individual distinguished by his power over language. This study performs a close analysis of two major poets who have never been linked together in this context.

‘The Poet-Hero in the Work of Byron and Shelley’ uncovers Byron’s and Shelley’s shift from presenting the hero as a supernaturally gifted individual to a poet-hero, whose language becomes the key locus and site of anxiety of his authority, viewing this as the vital innovation of their work. More than wanting a hero, Byron’s and Shelley’s attempts to create and critique a version of the poet-hero distinguishes their poetry. Though they share a preoccupation with the poet-hero, this volume dwells on the distinctive differences between the poets, dividing the study into two parts so as to spotlight their separate though corresponding artistic concerns and achievements. For Byron, poetic heroism is both an aspiration and an apprehension, where the poet longs to be the answer to the agonised question of ‘The Giaour’, ‘When shall such Hero live again?’ even as he fears and ironizes its potentially illusory quality. Shelley requires the poet-hero to turn prophet and legislator, and the demand to balance both roles tips the poet-hero into defeat after defeat rather than guaranteeing his success. The tensions and desires inherent in their different though complementary versions of the poet-hero gain prominence in their powerfully ambiguous poetry and drama.

‘The Poet-Hero in the Work of Byron and Shelley’ explores the different types of poetic heroism that evolve in Byron’s and Shelley’s poetry and drama. Both poets experiment with, challenge and embrace a variety of poetic forms and genres, and this book discusses such generic exploration in the light of their changing versions of the poet-hero. The heroism of the poet, as an idea, an ideal and an illusion, undergoes many different incarnations and definitions as each poet shapes distinctive and changing conceptions of the hero throughout their careers.

Acknowledgements; Note on Texts and Abbreviations; Introduction: The Poet- Hero: ‘Who shall trace the void?’; Part I Byron; Chapter One ‘A tyrant- spell’: The Byronic (Poet- )Hero in Manfred , Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and Beppo; Chapter Two ‘Degraded to a Doge’: Inappropriate Poetic Heroism in Marino Faliero; Chapter Three ‘Thoughts unspeakable’: Poetic Heroism under Pressure in Cain and The Deformed Transformed; Chapter Four Poetic Heroism and Authority: Don Juan and ‘Epistle to Augusta’; Interchapter: Chapter Five ‘As we wish our souls to be’: Julian and Maddalo and The Island; Part II Shelley; Chapter Six ‘The Highest Idealism of Passion and of Power’: Shelley’s Heroic Poetics in A Defence of Poetry, The Mask of Anarchy and Prometheus Unbound; Chapter Seven ‘Holy and Heroic Verse’: The Revolutionary Poet- Heroes of Laon and Cythna; Chapter Eight ‘This soul out of my soul’: The Trial of the Poet- Hero in Shelley’s Epipsychidion; Chapter Nine ‘His mute voice’: The Two Heroes of Adonais; Conclusion; The Byronic and the Shelleyan Poet- Hero; Bibliography; Index.

Sujets

• 19th century
• Modern history
• Literary criticism
• Poetry
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf

Informations

• Publié par: Anthem Press
• Date de parution: 28 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783088997
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Poet-Hero in the Work of Byron and Shelley
Anthem Nineteenth-Century Series
The Anthem Nineteenth-Century Series incorporates a broad range of titles within the fields of literature and culture, comprising an excellent collection of interdisciplinary academic texts. The series aims to promote the most challenging and original work being undertaken in the field and encourages an approach that fosters connections between areas including history, science, religion and literary theory. Our titles have earned an excellent reputation for the originality and rigour of their scholarship and our commitment to high-quality production.
Series Editor
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst – University of Oxford, UK
Editorial Board
Dinah Birch – University of Liverpool, UK
Kirstie Blair – University of Stirling, UK
Archie Burnett – Boston University, USA
Christopher Decker – University of Nevada, USA
Heather Glen – University of Cambridge, UK
Linda K. Hughes – Texas Christian University, USA
Simon J. James – Durham University, UK
Angela Leighton – University of Cambridge, UK
Jo McDonagh – King’s College London, UK
Michael O’Neill – Durham University, UK
Seamus Perry – University of Oxford, UK
Clare Pettitt – King’s College London, UK
Adrian Poole – University of Cambridge, UK
Jan-Melissa Schramm – University of Cambridge, UK
The Poet-Hero in the Work of Byron and Shelley
Madeleine Callaghan
Anthem Press
An imprint of Wimbledon Publishing Company
www.anthempress.com
This edition first published in UK and USA 2019
by ANTHEM PRESS
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Copyright © Madeleine Callaghan 2019
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
British Library Cataloguing -in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-78308-897-3 (Hbk)
ISBN-10: 1-78308-897-4 (Hbk)
This title is also available as an e-book.
For Michael O’Neill (1953–2018)
Art and eloquence,
And all the shows o’ the world are frail and vain
To weep a loss that turns their lights to shade
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Note on Texts and Abbreviations
Introduction
The Poet-Hero: ‘Who shall trace the void?’
Part I Byron

Chapter One
‘A tyrant-spell’: The Byronic (Poet-)Hero in Manfred , Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and Beppo
Chapter Two
‘Degraded to a Doge’: Inappropriate Poetic Heroism in Marino Faliero
Chapter Three
‘Thoughts unspeakable’: Poetic Heroism under Pressure in Cain and The Deformed Transformed
Chapter Four
Poetic Heroism and Authority: Don Juan and ‘Epistle to Augusta’
Interchapter

Chapter Five
‘As we wish our souls to be’: Julian and Maddalo and The Island
Part II Shelley

Chapter Six
‘The Highest Idealism of Passion and of Power’: Shelley’s Heroic Poetics in A Defence of Poetry , The Mask of Anarchy and Prometheus Unbound
Chapter Seven
‘Holy and Heroic Verse’: The Revolutionary Poet-Heroes of Laon and Cythna
Chapter Eight
‘This soul out of my soul’: The Trial of the Poet-Hero in Shelley’s Epipsychidion
Chapter Nine
‘His mute voice’: The Two Heroes of Adonais
Conclusion
The Byronic and the Shelleyan Poet-Hero
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am very grateful to a number of people for their encouragement, help and stimulating conversations, especially Joe Bray, Fabienne Collignon, Stuart Curran, Amanda Davis, Katherine Ebury, Jonathan Ellis, Gavin Hopps, Anthony Howe, Ágnes Lehóczky, Mariyah Mandhu, Chris Murray, Ellen Nicholls, Paul O’Neill, Seamus Perry, Adam Piette, Amber Regis, Nicholas Roe, Mark Sandy, Ranjan Sen, Jane Stabler, Emma Suret, Philip Swanson, Paige Tovey Jones, Sue Vice, Daniel Westwood, Sarah Wootton and Angela Wright. I am grateful to my colleagues and the University of Sheffield for their support of my research. Thanks also to Anthem Press.
For permission to reprint published material in this book I am grateful to the following relevant editors and publishers: Keats-Shelley Review 24 and Byron Journal 38.2. I’d like to thank both my father and my brother, Martin and Richard Callaghan, for their interest in my work; Stuart Green for his love and understanding; and, finally, the late Michael O’Neill for reading and commenting on every word of this book, and for being such a witty, generous and brilliant poet, critic and friend. You are much missed.
NOTE ON TEXTS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Lord George Gordon Byron, Byron’s Letters and Journals , ed. Leslie A. Marchand, 13 vols (London: Murray, 1973–94). Hereafter BLJ .
All quotations from Byron’s letters will be taken from this edition.
Lord Byron: The Complete Miscellaneous Prose , ed. Andrew Nicholson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991). Hereafter Byron’s Prose .
All quotations from Byron’s prose will be taken from this edition.
Lord George Gordon Byron, The Complete Poetical Works , ed. Jerome J. McGann and Barry Weller, 7 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1980–93). Hereafter CPW .
All quotations from Byron’s poetry and drama (unless specified otherwise) will be taken from this edition.
Lord George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron: The Major Works , ed., intro. and notes Jerome McGann, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2000). Hereafter McGann .
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley , ed. F. L. Jones, 2 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964). Hereafter Letters: PBS .
All quotations from Shelley’s letters (unless specified otherwise) will be taken from this edition.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley: The Major Works , ed., intro. and notes Zachary Leader and Michael O’Neill, Oxford World’s Classics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). Hereafter Major Works .
All quotations from Shelley’s poetry, prose and drama (unless specified otherwise) will be taken from this edition.
Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley , ed. Donald Reiman, Neil Fraistat and Nora Crook, 3 vols to date (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000–). Hereafter CPPBS .
All quotations from Laon and Cythna; or the Revolution of the Golden City: A Vision of the Nineteenth Century in the Stanza of Spenser will be taken from this edition (vol. 3; pub. 2012).
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
The Holy Bible: Authorized King James Version (London: The British and Foreign Bible Society, 1957).
All quotations from the Bible will be from this edition.
INTRODUCTION
THE POET-HERO: ‘WHO SHALL TRACE THE VOID?’
The arresting sally that begins Don Juan sees Byron’s narrator insist on the hero as the centre and circumference of his self-proclaimed epic:

I want a hero: an uncommon want,
 When every year and month sends forth a new one,
Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant,
 The age discovers he is not the true one;
Of such as these I should not care to vaunt,
 I’ll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan,
We all have seen him in the pantomime
Sent to the devil, somewhat ere his time.
( Don Juan I. 1: 1–8)
With a flourish, Byron’s narrator foregrounds two meanings of ‘want’. He immediately asserts himself as a narrator intent on holding the reader’s attention with his verbal virtuosity, even to the extent of excluding the hero he claims to want. Rather than seeming secondary and passive, he is the active figure, the shaping power and the central character of Don Juan . Byron leaves the reader with the impression that the narrator could have chosen another hero and, more importantly, he establishes that the hero needs the narrator. The balance of power is shifting but undecided: the narrator’s expressive power eclipses the hero, yet the narrator requires a hero for his epic. The narrator’s dominance over his hero remains incomplete. Placing hero and narrator alongside one another, Byron draws the reader’s attention to the symbiosis between them: word and deed vie for dominance in the work as the relationship between poet and hero becomes the animating force of Don Juan .
Shelley is equally compelled by the relationship between poet and hero, bringing the two figures together in his poetry and drama. He expands Wordsworth’s sense that the poet is ‘endued with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness, who has a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind’ to still greater heights by underscoring the responsibility of the poet to be both legislator and prophet in his Defence of Poetry , 1 where w