The Circle of Our Vision: Dante's Presence in English Romantic PoetryThe sudden and spectacular growth in Dante's popularity in England at the end of the eighteenth century was immensely influential for English writers of the period. But the impact of Dante on English writers has rarely been analysed and its history has been little understood. Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge, Blake, and Wordsworth all wrote or painted while Dante's work - its style, project, and achievement commanded their attention and provoked their disagreement. The Circle of Our Vision discusses each of these writers in detail, assessing the nature of their engagement with the Divine Comedy and the consequences for their own work. It explores how Romantic poets understood Dante, what they valued in his poetry and why, and sets them in the context of contemporary commentators, translators, and illustrators (including Henry Fuseli and John Flaxman), both in England and Europe. Romantic readings of the Divine Comedy are shown to disturb our own ideas about Dante, which are based on Victorian and Modernist assumptions. An important contribution to Romantic and Dante scholarship, The Circle of Our Vision also presents a reconsideration of the concept of 'influence' in general, using the example of Dante's presence in Romantic poetry to challenge Harold Bloom's belief that the relations between poets are invariably a fight to the death. |
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Page 6
... moves , not towards a sharing - with - others [ ... ] but towards a being - with- oneself . ( Anxiety , 122-3 ) 11 ... move ' towards a being - with - oneself ' is seen as an unalterable and unaltering necessity . Thomas Gray in 1757 ...
... moves , not towards a sharing - with - others [ ... ] but towards a being - with- oneself . ( Anxiety , 122-3 ) 11 ... move ' towards a being - with - oneself ' is seen as an unalterable and unaltering necessity . Thomas Gray in 1757 ...
Page 126
... move his body and , in consequence , the ' bright face [ ... ] Smiling ' towards him ( which moves when he desires to move ) threatens to become a reflection . Endymion starts away as if to avoid the fate of Narcissus . Endymion's leap ...
... move his body and , in consequence , the ' bright face [ ... ] Smiling ' towards him ( which moves when he desires to move ) threatens to become a reflection . Endymion starts away as if to avoid the fate of Narcissus . Endymion's leap ...
Page 139
... Moves what he touches ? The feet of the dead Are not so wont . ' My trusty guide , who now Stood near his breast , where the two natures join , Thus made reply : ' He is indeed alive , And solitary so must needs by me Be shown the ...
... Moves what he touches ? The feet of the dead Are not so wont . ' My trusty guide , who now Stood near his breast , where the two natures join , Thus made reply : ' He is indeed alive , And solitary so must needs by me Be shown the ...
Contents
Illustrating Dante | 39 |
Symbols in | 68 |
Morti li morti e i vivi parean | 119 |
Copyright | |
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appear attention avoid Beatrice becomes begins Blake Byron canto Cary Cary's circle claim Coleridge Coleridge's Commedia complete consequence continues contrast creates Critical damned Dante Dante's describes Don Juan dream earlier earthly English Essays eternal experience eyes face Fall feelings finds follows Friend further gives Hell human Hyperion idea illustrations imagination implies Inferno interest involvement Italian Italy John judgement Keats Keats's later less letter light lines living London look McGann means Milton mind moves nature objects observation offers opening original Paradise particular passage perception person poem poet poetry political possible present Purgatorio reader reading relation remains reveals Romantic Rousseau Sapegno says seems seen sense Shelley Shelley's similar soul Studies sublime suffering suggests symbolic things thinking thought tion translation Triumph true truth turns Ugolino understanding Virgil vision vols waking writing