ROMANTIC TRAVELLOGUES: WORDSWORTH & BYRON

ROMANTICISM

FIRST GENERATION

SECOND GENERATION

1760- 1837

Theorize about poetry; descriptions of the beauty of nature

Political disappointment; clash between ideal and real

BYRON

WORDSWORTH

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

Born near the River Wye, which influenced all his productions

His works are a way to represent himself

He wrote a GUIDE BOOK

4 Editions

Big lakes are certainly beautiful and quite adventurous to
cross, but tourists enjoy more visiting landscapes made of small lakes

He says that picturesqueness is more easily perceived in the north of England where mountains are not so high, and the view is not so broken by these imposing mountains.

HE TALKS IN FAVOUR OF NATIONAL LANDSCAPES

He wrote a LETTER to Jacob Fletcher

If compared, he prefers the mountains of his own region

He is conscious that a man cannot be fair when judjing between his own country and a foreign country

He is a romantic poet of British landscapes: he wrote his feelings for his land

He approaches with a new kind of readers: tourists

LORD BYRON

His poems were influenced by his travels

Aristocrat who got involved in the political events of his period.

He is very provocative in his writings

Grand Tour from 1809 to 1811

He went into exile: second journey

Full of adventures

Joined the Shelleys

Then went to Italy

BYRON'S GRAND TOUR

BYRON'S INFLUENCE

CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE

FEATURES

III CANTO

IV CANTO

LETTERS

MANFRED

THE PRISONNER OF CHILLON

EMIC APPROACH

He was attracted by exotic places, such as Albania

He embarked because of Napoleonic wars

He discovered values which were antithetical to the European principles

When he returned to England, he criticized the severing between past and present, done in England

Very popular poetry

His myth was created thanks to the contribution of other poets, such as Rogers and Ruskin

Prompted new habits and gave rise to a new variety of traveller's texts: THE 19TH CENTURY POETIC TRAVEL BOOK

According to his view, people should travel to look back to their country in a different way

Long narrative poem in four parts

Immediate success. This is the
poetical report of Byron’s grand tour

Became the model of the travelogues

CHILDE means a YOUNG KNIGHT, so a person who is not
yet a knight.

Inspired to a medieval setting

The language is emotionally dense.

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I CANTO

Harold is presented as a suffering soul

Embarks to heal his pain

Committed something

The narrator presents, as a mediator, the character of Harold

The narrator is emotionally involved

A landscape of mountains in a storm is described

(STANZA 92-93)The landscape represents Byron's own emotions

Scene set in the Alps

Description that became influential for Victorian Travelers

Emotionally dense

IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND HIS LIFE AND EMOTIONS

LETTER TO HIS MOTHER

LETTER TO MURRAY

LETTER TO MOORE

During the stay in Italy he found himself lost

Experience, inspection and trust are important for knowledge

Life and work are connected

The impressions in Rome are too much

He would like to enter a relationship with an authentic foreign country

He discusses the idea of writing in italian but he is not convinced, as the English people wouldn't understand

He knows not too much about Italy, but asserts that British people don't know the italian culture at all

He feels like he has become part of them

Story of a monk condemnd to prison

Story of comdemnation

THEMES: search for freedom and persecution

Inspired by places and figures

Dramatic work set in the mountains

Inspired by Polidory and Shelley

Manfred was wrongly convicted

Inspired by places

HE TALKS FROM THE INSIDE

HE FEELS AS A PART OF A COMMUNITY

BYRON BECAME PART OF THE VENETIAN SOCIETY AND DESCRIBED IT FROM THE INSIDE

TRAVEL IS A CRUCIAL EXPERIENCE, SOMETHING THAT HELPS TO OVERCOME PREJUDICE, AN EXISTENTIAL NECESSITY

VENICE AND THE POWER OF IMMAGINATION

BYRON AND TURNER'S VENICE

NATURE AND VENICE

MAGIC AND VENICE