REVOLUTIONARY POETS
George Noel Gordon Byron , after the death of his great uncle, acquired the title of a Lord and the family estate - Newstead Abbey - near Nottingham. When Byron came of age he became a member of the Parliament (in the House о f L о r d s ). He studied at Harrow and С a m b r i d g e , at the age of 19 he made a two-year journey to several European countries. The diary - travel notes - made up the basis of his first long poem which brought him fame -"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage".
In Parliament Byron showed himself to be an ardent fighter for people's rights, against injustice. He made two speeches in 1812. The first speech was in defense of the Luddites, and the second - in defense of the Irish people. His speeches as well as his satirical political poetry angered the ruling classes of the country. And they used the drama of his family (he divorced his wife) as a pretext (предлог) to start a campaign against him. Byron had to leave England forever in 1816. First he left England for Switzerland, where he got acquainted with P. B. Shelley. From there he moved to Italy where he took part in the Carbonary movement against the Austrian rule which was in its uprising. He stayed there until 1823. When the movement subsided he moved to Greece to participate in their straggle against the T u г к s . He was very active there and the Greeks proclaimed him their hero. But soon he caught a fever and died mourned by Greece. His heart was buried in Greece, and his body was brought to his Newstead Abbey. And only in 1969 the authorities allowed to bury his remains in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. His death was mourned by all the progressive mankind. Pushkin wrote his famous sonnet " К морю" to his death, for the sea had always been the symbol of Byron's revolutionary spirit.
Byron's literary work can be divided into four periods:
- London period (1812 - 1816) - the first two cantos of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" ("Паломничество Чайльд-Гарольда"); collection of poems -"Hebrew Melodies" ("Еврейские мелодии"); "Oriental poems" ("восточные поэмы") - "The Corsair" ("Корсар"), "The Bride ofAbydos" ( " А б и д о с с к а я невеста"), "Lara"("JIapa"), "The Giaour" ("Гяур") efc.: political satire-.; •- "' О с e t о the F r a m e r s о t the F r a m e В ill" ( ~ О ;.; x а в т эрам билля, направленного против разрушения станков');
- Swiss period (1816 May - October) - the third canto of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"; poems (поэмы) - "The Prisoner of Chillon" ("Шильо некий у з н и к " ); the philosophical drama (dramatic poem) - "Manfred" ("Манфред");
-Italian period (1816 - 1823) - (the most important and mature period) the fourth canto of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"; poems - "Cain" (a dramatic poem) ("Каин"), " В e p p о " ( " Б e п п о " ), "Don Juan" (an epic poem) - the great satirical panorama of the European social life of that time, this is the work in which he came close to realism and enriched the language of poetry with the everyday language spoken by people;
- Greek period (1823 - 1824) - some lyrical poems (стихи) - one of them is "On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Six Year" ("Сегодня мне исполнилось 36 лет"); "Journal in Cephalonia" ("Из дневника в Кефалонии") in prose.
In Byron's creative work there are evidences of three different literary trends: classicism,
romanticism, realism.
The influence of classicism is best felt in his early works in which he in a way imitated his predecessors (J. Swift, A. Pope) as well as the ancient Greek and Latin poets. But in all his works the precision and clarity as well as satire were all borrowed from classicism.
By the end of his work he markedly evolved towards realism.
His romanticism manifested itself in his love to freedom, hatred of oppression, admiration of nature, in his lyricism and in the specific character of his personages who were usually endowed with the same features.
It was his lyric epic poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" that brought him worldwide fame. Childe Harold was an aristocratic youth (18 years old) who was fed up with high society life and decided to leave England in search of fresh impressions, new places and people. Like Byron himself he visited several European countries. The 4 cantos of the poem tell us about his visits to S pain and Portugal, Greece and Albania , France and Switzerland , Italy. So his travels make up the epic ground of the poem. Yet more important is the lyrical part of the poem which conveys the author's own thoughts, impressions and judgments, concerning the places his hero visits, the events he witnesses and the people he meets (so here Childe Harold is mute and we hear Byron's voice).
All his life Byron took an active part in the political life of his own country and other countries. His parliamentary speeches, his political poetry speak for his ardent defense of freedom and hatred to injustice and exploitation. His maiden speech in Parliament in defense of the Luddites was followed by an "Ode to the Framers of the Frame Bill" ("Ода авторам билля, направленного против разрушителей станков") (1812). An ode is a song praising someone. But Byron's poem was a satire. In his poem "Song for the Luddites" ("Песнь луддитов") (1816) the poet's sympathy to the workers is also clearly felt.
During the London period Byron also created a cycle of "Oriental poems" which was called so as they are all set in the Orient (in the Middle East or in the Mediterranean). His heroes are usually solitary and rebellious individuals struggling for freedom and independence.
The Swiss period was marked by the author's melancholy and pessimism, his disappointment (it was reflected in such works as his dramatic poem "Manfred"). Byron draws the apocalyptical picture - the end of the world.
The Italian period showed Byron's gradual turn to realism which was most evident in his humorous poem " В e p p о " , his satirical poem "The Vision of Judgement" ("Видение суда") (a political and literary satire), his poem "The Age of Bronze" ("Бронзовый век") and lyrical epic poem "Don Juan" ("Дон Жуан"). Byron failed to finish "Don Juan" (he planned to write 24 cantos but death stopped him in the middle of the 17th one).
Byron's wealth of ideas, richness of thoughts and imagery, great political skills - all this made him a great authority for his contemporaries and ensured him a lasting place in the world literature.
Percy Bysshe Shelley became highly appreciated after his death. He was born in an aristocratic family. He studied at Eton and then - at Oxford. But he was expelled for being an atheist (атеист). This caused a conflict with his family, which got even worse after Shelley's early marriage.
In 1812 - 1816 Shelley visited Ireland where he supported the liberation movement of the Irish against England. In the end Shelley's ideas of freedom reflected in his poetry and his family drama (his civil marriage with Mary Godwin - she will become his wife in the future and she is the author of the famous novel "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus") angered the ruling classes of England. Having travelled long and after his stay in Switzerland in 1818 Shelley had to leave England and settled in Italy where he continued to keep friendly relationships with Byron. One month before his 30th birthday Shelley drowned during a storm.
Shelley's poetry is permeated with the idea and spirit of freedom and justice as Byron's was. But Shelley's poetry is more abstract, symbolic and allegorical than Byron's was (though Shelley's poetry was all inspired by actualities (современные события)). His most prominent works are his poems "Queen Mab" ("Королева Маб") (1813) and his lyrical drama "Prometheus Unbound" ("Освобождённый Прометей") (1819), etc.
In the poem "Prometheus Unbound" Shelley expressed his idea of freedom in an allegorical form: speaking about the ancient myth of Prometheus, he says that one day the people, to whom Prometheus sacrificed himself, will free him and rebel against the gods - such an allegorical idea of revolution.
At the end of his life Shelley wrote a drama, based on an old Italian legend - "The Cenci" ("Ченчи") (1819). In this poem Shelley tells the history of the Cenci family, here he conveys his hatred of tyranny and despotism. This is a sort of literary mystification (the author says that he found an old manuscript which told him this story). The father in the Cenci family was a real despot. His wife died of it. But he used to buy pardons (индульгенции) and remained "clean". And then he treated badly his second wife and his children. In the end the family rebelled against him and killed him. And Shelley justifies them.
Shelley was also the author of a number of short lyrical poems and sonnets.