byron Flashcards
overall context
1788-1824
public affairs, incest, sodomy
bisexualish
byronic hero archetype - passionate but flawed
key themes in work - sublime, nature used to express passion + feelings, sexual repression, forbidden love
context
lines inscribed
had a skull cup
was 19 years old when writing, contrast of youth contemplating death
gothic horror - grotesque + religious imagery, life/death theme (“slimy brood”, “reptile’s food”)
key themes
lines inscribed
beauty, death, life, hedonism
form, structure, speaker
lines inscribed
ballad - musical quality, sense of inevitability (memento mori)
ABAB rhyme
iambic tetrameter
6 quatrains
lyrical voice - skull
tone
lines inscribed
juxtaposition between humourous tone + grotesque, morbid imagery
bordering on parodic - title mirrors elaborate wordsworth titles (tintern abbey), mocking** religious imagery**
memento mori
lines inscribed
(remember death)
symbollically represented through skull
inevitability of death, supremacy over life
“to earth i let my bones resign”
“alas!” - caesura, shock/horror at inevitability
contrast w/ carpe diem (seize the day) further in poem
“quaff whilst thou can”
“why not?”
live in the moment, treasure life, for you remember that you will die, so “why not?”
religious allusions
lines inscribed
“deem my spirit fled”, double meaning, soul/alcohol - trivialising religion, advocating for atheism
“drink of the gods”, ambrosia, wine as life/holy/noble, hedonism
“redeem’d from worms and wasting clay” - double meaning, man made from/earth, grounds religion in reality
role as a cup/holder of wine is nobler than laying in the dirt - death/the body isn’t sacred as religion suggests, all human processes are physical
archaic language
lines inscribed
“quaff”, “thou”, skull being out of touch with modernity
“i live, i laughed, i quaff’d, like thee” repetition/triple- skull was alive once as byron is but they are no different, both are mortal
imagery
lines inscribed
grotesque (“the worm hath fouler lips than mine”, “nurse the earth-worm’s slimy brood”) - human body/death isn’t sacred, unromanticises life/death, lyrical voice questioning purpose of death
wine (“sparkling”, “drink of the gods”) - contrasts with grotesque, skull has a nobler purpose above the ground in the romantic/hedonistic lifestyle, provides life
compare with cold earth on attitudes to death
lines inscribed
CE: death omnipresent + powerful
LI: trivialises death, inevitable but carpe diem
CE: death takes
LI: death gives
CE: ???
LI: ???
gothic themes, form/structure (meter), religious vs supernatural, language to portray lifelessness, context, sublime, symbolism
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lines inscribed
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lines inscribed
context
on this day
ever-changing relationships
byron died shortly after writing
cognitive decline + physical health - obsessed with young boy - “yet, though i cannot be beloved, still let me love!”, exclamatory/hysterical tone
form, structure, tone
on this day
10 quatrains
ABAB, regimented
first 3 lines = iambic tetrameter
final = iambic diameter, usually exclamatory
tone shift: solemn, weighed down by aging –> volta (“but”), hopeful, focusing on “glory” –> solemn again, death the only option
imagery
on this day
nature emotive, youthful (his past romantic, hedonist lifestyle) - “yellow leaf”, “fruits and flowers”
semantic field of disease (aging) - “the worm, the canker, the grief” + seasons changing - “in the yellow leaf”, past his prime, extended metaphor
fire lost/past passion (his promiscuity), phallic/euphemistic - “the fire that on my bosom preys, is as lone as some volcanic isle”
militaristic ashamed of his fruitless past, feels the urge to do something substantial/noble to find meaning like go to war, semantic field “sword”, “banner”, “field”, “a soldier’s grave” - feels emasculated by aging, probably phallic imagery:( - “unworthy manhood”
metaphorical battle within himself
triplets
on this day
“worm/canker/grief”
“hope/fear/jealous care”
“sword/banner/field”
semantic fields disease, emotion, war - reflects his feelings on aging, at war with himself and time (relates back to seasons)
emphatic choices, reflects his sense of fragility
imperatives
on this day
“tread”, “seek”, “give away”, “awake”
byron tries to convince himself his actions are correct, caught between the desire to relive his youth + give it away nobly
asyndetic list
on this day
triplets - “the hope, the fear, the jealous care”
emotions building - discusses love, both pleasure and pain - “and power of love, i cannot share, but wear the chain”, feels compelled to love like his youth but cannot, contextual link to young boy
personification/anaphora
on this day
personification of greece: “awake! (not greece - she is awake!)” - setting of greece, who, unlike him, is full of life + spirit - excalamatory/unnecessary nature of the statement could suggest jealousy/envy
anaphora: “awake” - he calls for his soul to wake up so he can feel young again
“beauty”, “glory”, “love”
on this day
unique capitalisation of abstract nouns personifies them, connoting the autonomous role they have in byron’s life as he is at their whims - lack of control over his life as he gets older
compare to dejection near naples on the individual
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DJN:
OTD:
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