Shrines and sacred architecture in "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage".
Item
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Title
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Shrines and sacred architecture in "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage".
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Identifier
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AAI9807970
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identifier
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9807970
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Creator
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Michael, Jean Catherine Vincent.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Fred Kaplan
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Date
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1997
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, English | Architecture
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Abstract
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This dissertation demonstrates the importance of Byron's thematic usage of shrines and sacred architecture in the autobiographical Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, the thesis being that the poet's visitations to shrines fulfill the traditional expectations of both literary vision quests and actual pilgrimage by yielding a vision of the deity (in the architecture of Saint Peter's basilica) and a direction for personal vocation and destiny. Viewing Childe Harold in terms of the format of pilgrimage to the penultimate shrine, and Don Juan as the journey back to the world in terms of Donald Howard's theory of secular pilgrimage and interlace, allows for a more comprehensive vision of Byron as a creator of heaven and hell, like Dante and Michelangelo whose shrines play pivotal roles in the conclusion of Childe Harold. Studying Byron's usage of shrines in the religious and historical poems and plays written in early exile and reading Don Juan as the pilgrim's return, helps to eliminate the usual dichotomous view of the poet's earlier "Byronic" and later satirical verse.;Chapter One, BYRON AND THE MEDIEVAL CATHEDRAL, contrasts Byron with the older and younger generations of English Romantic poets by showing his affinity for sacred architecture and willingness to utilize traditional shrines as the church fathers and medieval architects intended. Byron's expectations of sacred ground, relics, inner shrines and temple and cathedral structure are compared to the other Romantics' more iconoclastic or revolutionary rejection of such Catholic or "Popish" accoutrements.;In chapter Two, CANTO I AND II: TEMPLATES, MAPPING AND FORM, the first journey is read in terms of traditional literary vision quests such as The Divine Comedy and Piers Ploughman. Byron, as a mystic participant in history, seeks initiation into life and justice, by meditating at shrines, Shrines and sacred sites act as portals to the sublime, keys to the classical past, and markers of emotional and intellectual self-development as Byron, as Harold, formulates a world view,;Chapter Three, CANTOS III AND IV: ARCHITECTURAL VERSUS NATURAL FORM, examines Byron's experimental Wordsworthian phase wherein he substitutes form from nature for cathedrals, temples, and shrines. Concluding that man feels more worthy of himself upon traditional sacred ground in the presence of sacred edifices, Byron adds nature meditations to his growing conglomeration of enshrined places, but pivots to the final canto of Childe Harold by resuming the pilgrimage from shrine to shrine formatted in the first half of the poem. Contrary to negative assessments of Byronic "nihilism" in Canto IV, such as Shelley's, Peacock's, and critic Charles Robinson's, the conclusion of Childe Harold reveals the poet's resolution to follow in the footsteps of Dante, Michelangelo, and Boccaccio by creating a lasting and epic work wherein man's godlike nature is manifest.;Chapter four: DON JUAN: THE RETURN TRIP examines Byron's satirical use of shrines in his major satire and his efforts to secure a personal shrine by serving in the Greek War of Independence. Don Juan is read as the fulfillment of vision quest as it delivers truth in the form of a last judgment upon Regency society through its satirical use of Anglican architecture.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
