|
George Gordon Byron
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812 - 1818)
Canto III, lines 5 - 18
General introduction
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a long lyric poem made of four structurally independent cantos made of Spenserian stanzas
[E1]
[I1].
Autobiographical in its inspiration, the work is centered on Harold, a young aristocratic awaiting knighthood (Childe) who, annoyed and didillusioned by his life at home, decides to tour the southern countries. He first visits the Hyberic and the Balcan Peninsulas (Cantos 1 and 2): he admires the beauty of monuments and landscapes that remind him of lost beauty and glory. The third Canto is set in Central Europe, while the the background of the final Canto is Italy: the hero loses himself there, rapt in the contemplation of the savage beauty of nature and sea, which he believes to be the symbols of the never-dying, powerful aesthetic sublime.
The tradition of the so-called Grand Tour
[E1]
[ES1]
[F1]
[I1]
was still very strong among the British and European aristocracy at the beginning of the 19th century: travelling across the continent and visiting foreign countries was intended to be a necessary introductory experience to adult life and its duties. Southern Europe, and Italy in particular, had been the favourite destinations of young British and German aristocrats (see Goethe) for a long time: wonderful landscapes, rich and beautiful cities, the remnants of the ancient glory of Greek, Etruscan and Roman civilizations were all factors that played in favour of their popularity.
Read the text
[...]
Awaking with a start,
The waters heave around me; and on high
The winds lift up their voices: I depart,
Whither I know not; but the hour’s gone by,
When Albion’s lessening shores could grieve or glad mine eye.
Once more upon the waters! yet once more!
And the waves bound beneath me as a steed
That knows his rider. Welcome, to their roar!
Swift be their guidance, wheresoe’er it lead!
Though the strain’d mast should quiver as a reed,
And the rent canvas fluttering strew the gale,
Still must I on; for I am as a weed,
Flung from the rock, no Ocean’s foam, to sail
Where’er the surge may sweep, or tempest’s breath prevail.
[...]
Where rose the mountains, there to him were friends;
Where roll’d the ocean, thereon was his home;
Where a blue sky, and glowing clime, extends,
He had the passion and the power to roam;
The desert, forest, cavern, breaker’s foam,
Were unto him companionship; they spake
A mutual language, clearer than the tome
Of his land’s tongue, which he would oft forsake
For Nature’s pages glass’d by sunbeams on the lake.
[...]
ACTIVITIES
Comprehension and interpretation
1. Read the first two stanzas and answer the following questions:
- Who do you think the protagonist is?
- Is it him speaking?
- Where do you think he is?
- What is he doing? Why?
- Does he communicate his feelings, and of what sort?
- Does the nature he describes have to do with his mood, and in what way?
2. Now, read the third stanza: are the feelings of the protagonists changed? what attitude does he show towards nature?
Textual and linguistic analysis
1. Sound
- Go through the first stanza and find a consistent example of allitteration. What is the repeated sound? What effect do you think the poet wants to convey?
- Are there any examples of an onomatopoeic use of words in the second stanza? can you quote an example?
- Look at the third stanza: what is the most evident sound device here? What is the poet’s purpouse in using it?
2. Rhytm and rhyme
Go through the second stanza and trace out the features of the Spenserian stanza.
- What is the rhyme scheme?
- How many lines are there?
- How many syllables are there in the first verse? How many in the last one?
- Can you find out the stress pattern of the same two verses?
- Do you think the Spenserian stanza is a traditional or innovative metric form? Why?
3. Language
- Look at the text: find some examples of similes and personifications that are referred to nature. List them.
- What kind of attitude do they suggest? Is the representation of nature neutral, or is it affected by the poet’s feelings and mood? In what way?
Is nature only a background for the poet’s feelings, or is it involved in a deeper way?
- The protagonist uses a powerful simile in order to describe himself (go through stanza 2): can you trace it out?
what attitude does it seem to suggest?
3/15
|
