The poet-hero in the work of Byron and Shelley / Madeleine Callaghan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Callaghan, Madeleine, author.

Series:

Anthem nineteenth century studies.

Anthem nineteenth-century series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824--Characters--Heroes.

Byron, George Gordon Byron.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822--Characters--Heroes.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe.

English literature--19th century--History and criticism.

English literature.

Heroes in literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 228 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

London : Anthem Press, 2019.

Summary:

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 achievement. Madeleine Callaghan 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 developing 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 both poets shape distinctive and changing conceptions of the hero throughout their careers.

Contents:

The poet-hero : "who shall trace the void?"

"A tyrant-spell" : the Byronic (poet-)hero in Manfred, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and Beppo

"Degraded to a doge" : inappropriate poetic heroism in Marino Faliero

"Thoughts unspeakable" : poetic heroism under pressure in Cain and the deformed transformed

Poetic heroism and authority : Don Juan and "Epistle to Augusta"

"As we wish our souls to be" : Julian and Maddalo and the island

"The highest idealism of passion and of power" : Shelley's heroic defence of poetry, the mask of anarchy, and Prometheus unbound

"Holy and heroic verse" : the revolutionary poet-heroes of Laon and Cythna

"This soul out of my soul" : the trial of the poet-hero in Shelley's Epipsychidion

"His mute voice" : the two heroes of Adonais

Conclusion : the Byronic and the Shelleyan poet-hero : "who shall trace the void?".

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 26 Mar 2019).

ISBN:

9781783088997

1783088990

9781783088980

1783088982