THE SUBLIME BYRON: AN ANALYSIS OF “THE PRISONER OF CHILLON,”“DARKNESS”AND MANFRED

• Main Authors: Jon Eric Nichols, 尼琅菘
• Other Authors: Dr. Yih-Fang Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/a9wte6

博士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 英語學系 === 101 === This dissertation argues that many of Lord Byron’s works feature the characteristics which were generally associated with the practice of the sublime within the Romantic era, even though Byron is usually less appreciated as a writer of the sublime. To substantiate my central arguments, three important works by Lord Byron were selected to be analyzed with three theories of the sublime which were in prominence during the Romantic era. By the time Lord Byron had reached maturity as a writer, several theories had already been developed for determining which experiences were evocative of the sublime and which experiences were not. In this dissertation the theories to be employed as the theoretical framework for my analyses were developed by Cassius Longinus, the Greek critic, Edmund Burke, the Irish statesman, and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant. These three theorists were chosen because of their influence upon the development and practice of the sublime during the Romantic era. The three works by Byron which are analyzed are “The Prisoner of Chillon,” “Darkness” and Manfred. These works—primarily composed in 1816—display the richness of their sublime attributes as well as Byron’s mental state as he composed them. Each of these works was written while he was dealing with the emotional turmoil that proceeded from the scandalous dissolution of his marriage and his subsequent self-imposed exile from England. Emotional turmoil of this sort is speculated to be crucial to the creation of works with sublime attributes. This dissertation contains five chapters. The first chapter, the introduction, provides the motivation, a historical context and a literature review. Chapter two provides an analysis of the poem “The Prisoner of Chillon” using Longinus’ theory of the sublime. Chapter three introduces Edmund Burke’s concept of the sublime and utilizes his guidelines for identifying the sublime as a theoretical framework in order to analyze Byron’s poem “Darkness.” Chapter four uses Kant’s notion of the sublime as the basis for conducting an analysis of Byron’s drama Manfred. The final chapter is devoted to a brief discussion of some of the theories of the sublime which were either developed within or after the Romantic era. In so doing, this dissertation aims to evaluate their relative merits for the purpose of analyzing the works of Lord Byron.