The Making of the Poets: Byron and Shelley in Their Time - Couverture rigide

Gilmour, Ian

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0786712732 ISBN 13 : 9780786712731

Editeur : Da Capo Press, 2003

Synopsis

Leaving no stone unturned in this illuminating portrait of Byron and Shelley's formative years, Ian Gilmour's entertaining dual biography explores the early lives of these two rebellious poets as they pursued freedom from traditional authority—in poetry, in politics, and in love. Born at a time of political and intellectual upheaval, the two well-born heretics were at ideological odds with the establishment even as boys. During their brief stints at university—Shelley was expelled from Oxford after publishing The Necessity of Atheism, and at Cambridge Byron concentrated mostly on gambling and whoring—they developed a fervent mutual hatred of persecution, inequality, and compulsory religion, quite to the shock of their fellow aristocrats. Their embrace of revolutionary ideals manifested itself, too, in their travels abroad, youthful love affairs, and early accomplishments in the literary arena. The twenty-four-year-old Byron became an immediate sensation upon the publication of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ("I awoke one morning and found myself famous"), but the prolific Shelley would not "become [a] star among the stars of mortal night," as he put it, until after his death. Black-and-white illustrations add to this impressive work, charting the careers of these two revolutionary poets who came to epitomize the Romantic Age.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Leaving no stone unturned in this illuminating portrait of Byron and Shelley's formative years, Ian Gilmour's entertaining dual biography explores the early lives of these two rebellious poets as they pursued freedom from traditional authority—in poetry, in politics, and in love. Born at a time of political and intellectual upheaval, the two well-born heretics were at ideological odds with the establishment even as boys. During their brief stints at university—Shelley was expelled from Oxford after publishing The Necessity of Atheism, and at Cambridge Byron concentrated mostly on gambling and whoring—they developed a fervent mutual hatred of persecution, inequality, and compulsory religion, quite to the shock of their fellow aristocrats. Their embrace of revolutionary ideals manifested itself, too, in their travels abroad, youthful love affairs, and early accomplishments in the literary arena. The twenty-four-year-old Byron became an immediate sensation upon the publication of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ("I awoke one morning and found myself famous"), but the prolific Shelley would not "become [a] star among the stars of mortal night," as he put it, until after his death. Black-and-white illustrations add to this impressive work, charting the careers of these two revolutionary poets who came to epitomize the Romantic Age.

Présentation de l'éditeur

Byron and Shelley both died young. By the time Byron left Harrow, almost half his life was over; and when Shelley left Eton, three-fifths of his life were gone. Ian Gilmour's highly original book concentrates on the poets in their childhood and youth, and tells their parallel stories. Their traumatic formative years had a decisive influence on both their later lives. In this incisive and compelling book, Gilmour provides a fascinating account of the political, social and economic background to their writings. Byron and Shelley lived in the turbulent age of the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and the post-Waterloo reaction, an era that shaped many of their ideas and works. They became close friends and kindred spirits, and, as the author demonstrates, had far more in common than is usually recognised.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Da Capo Press
• Date d'édition: 2003
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0786712732
• ISBN 13: 9780786712731
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 416
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible