龍谷大學論集 469 - 011東中 稜代「Byron's Use of Literary Names in Canto I of Don Juan」

Byron's

Use

of

Literary

Names

in

Canto

I

of

Don

luan

Itsuyo

Higashinaka

When

one starts to read the

first

canto of Don .hean,

he

or she is

immediately met by a long listof military heroes as the narrator tries

to

find

a suitable hero

for

his own poem. This isthe

first

few

lines

of

stanza 2: "Vernon, the butcher Cumberland, Wolfe,

Hawke,

1

Prlnce

Ferdinand,

Granby,

Burgoyne, Keppel,

_Howe,1

_Evil

and _good,

have

had

(i)

their tithe of talk". This kind of _pilingup, or cataloguing of _proper

names, continues until stanza 5 where the narrator finallymakes up

his

mind and says: "I'11 take my friendDon Juan",as the hero of this _poem.

Apart

from

this cataloging of military names, this canto is sprinkled

with

literary

names throughout. Before I proceed,I would liketo have

a _quick

look

at the

Dedication

of the _poem. In addition to the n4me of

Robert

Southey,

we encounter many literarynames such as Horace,

Miltop,Gibbon,

Henry

James

Pye, Pope,

_Wordsworth,

Coleridge,Seott,

Rogers,

Campbell,Moore, Crabbe and so forth.This choice of the literary

names _prescribes,along with politicians'names, not only the nature of

the Dedication,but also that of the tenor of Don ,Jtzan, which Byron

meant to present as a whole. Those

literary

names are there in the

Dedicationfor him to satirize the'_poetry and _politiesof hiscontemporary

' '

world.

Don Juan isnot the only _poem of Byron's in _which

literary

_names

appear abundantly. Another notable example is Canto

IV

of Childle

Harola's

Piigrimage, which

is

also sprinkled with

literary

names.

It

abounds with literaryplaees as well. BYron write$ ina letterto Thomas

Moore in 1816:"[Venice)

is

a _poetical place; and cl'assical, to us,

from

(2)

Shakespeare

and Otway".

In

fact,he tells Moore facetiouslythat he has

fallenin

love

with the wife of "`a Merchant of Venice',who is a _good

(3)

deal occupled with business".Byron says in Childe

Harold

that Venice

will not

disappear

because "Shylock and the Moor,

1

And Pierre,cannot

be

swept or _{worn away"}

(IV,

4). The narrator makes a pointof visiting

placesof literesthaunted by literaryghosts.His

journey

includessuch

poeticaland classical _placesas Arqua,Ferrara,Florence,RiverClitumnus,

the

Fall

of Terni,Mount Soracteand _so forth,in addition to Venice and

Rome.

These placesare closely related to big literarynames such as

Petrarch,Tasso,Dante, Ariosto,Boccaccio,Cicero,Horace and others.

The Fall of Terni, for instance,isa classical _place of interest

per

se

C4)

celebrated by _poets from Virgildownward. I believemuch can be said

about literarynames _plus literay_places in connection with the narrator

in

enilcle

Harold

JV.

On

this occasion, however,

I

shall limit_my

cussion to Don .inan.

I liketo mention one other thing. When itcomes to intertextuality, Byron rarely fallsbehind other _poets. The narrator of Don ,Jhean not

only mentions

literary

names _very often, but also is_very eonscious of

hispredecessors and makes free use of their literature.A _glance at the

notes supplied

by

Jerome

McGann

in

his

Oxford edition of

Don

,laan

tells us that Byron owed _{a great}

deal

to

his

_predecessors for creating

his

own _poetry. Again this_paper

does

not lookat echoes of, and _allusions

to, other writers, even though Byron isa _poet of allusion as much as

his master, Alexander Pope. Instead,I would liketo stick to the fact

of Byron'sactual mentioning of literarynames in Don Juan L

At the outset of

Canto

I

the narrator says: "Most epic _poets plunge

in `medias

res'"

(6),

and towards the end of the same canto

he

tellshis

readers what sort of epic they are to expect:

'

"My poem's epic and ismeant to

be

Divided in twelve books; each

book

containing,

With

love,

and war, a heavy _gale at sea,

A

list

of ships, and captains, and

kings

reigning,

-117-New _,Charaqters; the episodes are three:

A

panorama view of

hellls

in training,

After

the style of Virgiland _of

Homer

So that my name _of Epic's_{no misnomer.}

(200)

This

_is

a _statement in which the narrator clearly declaresthat his_poem

is_going to

be

an epic in his own fashion,and that at. the _same time he

'

isvery conscious of his "epic `brethren' _who have _gone

before

him".

(202)

As

we come to know eventually,･ the rriatter of the

first

canto is

IQve,

an epic theme. The _{greater part} of Canto IItreats `a _heavy

gqle at

sea', and the theme of Canto

VI.I

is`war',

as the narrator says, "The,Muse

will take a

little

touch at warfare"

(VI-120).

Don ,Jdean may be different

as an epic frQm _preceding ones, and can

be

called, as

has

been

described

by various crities, a _parody of epic, anti-epic, modern epic and so

forth.

One thing

is

clear; we read Byron's

Don

,]latan with other epic poems in

mind, and we feelsomehow comfortabl,e _4bout seeing ourselves constanty

making comparisens

between

Don ,laan and itsepic forebears..

Thus Canto I,above all, reflects Byron'sconcern about the nature of

the _genre `epic'

and

hence

Byron introducesinto the canto the names of

epic _poets and hisideasabout the nature of '`epic', Talking about

Juan's

education,

his

tu-tors have to "make an odd sort o{ apology", {orteaching

"Aeneids, Iliads,_and Odysseys".

(41)

So _{we are rnade conscious of two}

great names in the epic world: Homer and

Virgil,

,who naturally get

mentioned elsewhere as well.

The

following.quotation

shows

his

interest

in

other _poets of classical Iiterature:

Ovid's

a rake, as halfhis _verses show him,

Anacreon's

morals are a still _{worse sample,} ･

Catullusscarcely has a decent poem,

I

don't

think Sappho's Ode a _good example,

Although

Longinus

tellsus there isno

hymn

Where the sublime soars forth on wings more, ample;

But Virgil'sso4gs are _pure, except. that

horrid

one

Beginning with `"Fbrmosum

lkstor

Cbrydbn.'

Lucretius'irreligionistoo strong

For early stomachs, to _prove wholesome food;

I can't help thinking

Juvenal

was wrong,

Although no doubt _,his real intentwas _good,

For speaking out so plainlyin his song,

So

much indeedas to be downright rude;

And then what proper _person can be partial

To all those nauseous epigrams of Martial?

(42-3)

On these two stanzas

Jerome

McGann writes as follows:"The _passage

isdeeply autobiographical, since these authors are all among Byron's

favourites.

Byron translated Anacreon, Catullus,and Martial;and Ovid,

and Longinus,Virgil,Lucretius,

Juvenal

_are

frequently

_{quoted or} alluded

(5)

to in his wbrks. So isSappho, only lessso".

These poets mentioned in the stanzas _quoted above all wrote

love

poerns. Byron refers to

Ovid's

Metamorphoses

(VII,

10-12) when he says,

"In

fellings

quick as Ovid'sMiss Medea

(I,

86) and

he

starts writing

about what might

be

called

Juan's

love melancholy. As for Anacreon,

his name immediately

brings

to mind the name of Byron's_good

friend,

Thomas Moore, alias Anacreon

Moore,

once a resident of this･faircity

of Dublin. Byron

describes

him inDon .hean as

`thdt heathenishheaven1

Describedby Mahomet, and Anacreon Moore".

(I,

104) Even at the very end of Don .Jdran,

Byron

does

nQt forgetAnacreQn, passionof hisyouth:

"Anacreon

only had the soul to tie an

1

Unwithering

myrtle round the

unblunted art1Of Eros".

(XVI,

109) In

his

"To Thornas

Moore"

he

writes, "Oh _you, who inall names can tickle the town,

1

Ana ¢ reon, Tom (aj

Little,Tom Moore, or Tom Brown". By the way, Catullusisalso associ-ated･ with Moore, becauseByron says in

English

Bards and

Scotch

(7)

ers "'Tis Little!Young Catullusof hisday". As to Sappho,Byron was

always interestedin

her.

He

brings

in Longinus beeausethis writer on

the sublime _praised Sappho's _poem on love. We know that in Childe

-119-Harold

Il Harold sees `Leucadia's

far

projecting rock of woe',

(II,

40)

and Byron says inhisnote to Leucadia as follows:"From

the _promontory,

(8)

`the Lover's Leap',Sappho is

said to have thrown herself".He also

mentioned Virgilas _pastoralpoetand _quotes facetiouslyene of hissongs

using the original Latin,"Beginning with `Formosum PZxstor

Cbrz[ydon,"

(42)

The listof love_poets in these stanzas shows that the narrator was

immerssed

_in

reading these _poets,and their names are ,mentioned

because

love

isthe matter of

Don

Juan I and elsewhere in the _poem.

The passage quoted above includesnot

just

love

_poets

but

Juvenal,

a satirist.

Byron

says, "his real intentwas _good,1For speaking out so

plainlyinhissong"

(43),

referring to hisbittertongue as satirist. Byron's mouth in Don

Jlaan

is _going to be as bitter,and _{speak out} his opinions

as

bluntly

_{and plainly,}as

Juvenal.

According to FredericBeaty,

Juvenal

and Horace "were among Byron's _prineipal models throughout his

po-etical career".

Frederick

Beaty

brings

our attention to the

fact

that

Byron

alludes more frequentlyto

Juvenal's

satires than to

Horace's.

He

says that Byron liked"The

Roman

poet'sdirectapproach, his _powerful

invectiveencouraged

by

righteous indignation,

his

bitt.erirony,and his

uninhibited treatment of even the seamier aspects of sexuality fascinated

(9)

Byron all his life".

As for Byron's love of Horace, one does not have to _go to much

extent. He wrote

th'nts

from

Horace,

an imitationof Horace'sArs I'betica.

The very motto of Don

laan

is'taken from Horace, "Difficile _est

proprie

pm

communia

dicere".

The

matter of his sorig isabout common things of

humanity. Everything that has todo with humans comes to be treated by

his

pen. Byron says that

he

does

not

like

Horace

because

he

was

forcibly

pushed down his throat in school,

but

he

does

nostalgically talk about

the Sabine

farm,

"the

weary

bard's

delight"

(Childe

LIarola

IV,

183).

Likewise,he _quotes Horace's very words, "Non ego

hoc

ferrem

calida

juventa

1

Consule

Planco''

_(212);

a freerendering in English by Byron

isfound at the end of thisstanza as "(I] would not

brook

at all this sort

of thing

1

In my hot _youth-when

George

the Third was

King".

Byron

deftly

changes Planco to King George the Third. In McGann's words,

av

"Byron

gives a topical rendering of the _passage". Byron's

Don

Juan

is

fused with more relaxed Horatian sort of satire as well as with more

pungentsatireof

Juvenal,

and he _pays credit to their literarynames in

'

Don Ji{anI.

Furthermore, Byron refers, inthe _{quoted passage} above, te two other

literary

names:

Longinus

and Lucretius.

They

may not

be

_poets,

but

their _{philosophical} and critical writings have exerted much infiuenceon

the subsequent Iiterature.Aristotleisalso often mentioned. In stanza

120

he

says

he

istaking libertyof _poetic

license,

since

he

has

"a

high

sense

1

Of Aristotleand the Rules". Then, he skips about

five

months

and isready to depictthelove scene of

Juan

and

Julia.

This isByron's

`understanding'

or willful misunderstanding, to

be

more _precise, of

Aristotle'sideaof unity of time, He shows hisknowledge of Aristotle and his theories expounded in Pbetics,but enjoys breakinghisrules with

confidence.

He

claims

his

_poem is _going to

be

epic, "with strict regard to

Aristotle's

rules,

1

The wade mecztm of the true sublime,

1

Which makes

so many _poets, and some fools"'(201). Denigrating the _profession of

critics Byron calls "Every Poet his own Aristotle"

(204).

One can see

that Aristotleisbrought in,not because the narrator _wants to abide

by

his

ideas,but to show

his

good knowledge of this critic. He will go on

his own way, unashamedly ignoringthis _great eritic's rules. Byron feels

certain that hisreaders share his

knowledge

of classical authors, but

he

makes a _point of using them in a twisted and facetiousway. He says at

the end of Canto IIIthat

his

poem is_getting tedious, because "'Tis being

too epic", and that he must cut the canto into two.

He

adds, "I'11 _prove

that such the opinion of the critic is

1

From Aristotle_passim.-See

llocrpTcrcg"

_(III,

111).

As

for

Longinus, much was talked about

him

inrelation to Byron

in the summer of 2004 at Moncton, New Brunswick since the topic of

ca

the

International

conference there was "Byron and the Sublime".Longinus

isonce again coupled with

Aristotle.

The narrator says, "knights and

dames

I'sings..."'Tis

a flight!Which seems at firstto need no lofty

-121-wing,

1

Plumed by

Longinus

or the Stagyrite"

(XV,

25).In

Canto

IByron says

he

will wri'te

his

`poetical commandments' and that "I'11

call the

work `Longinus o'er a Bottle,

1

Or, Every Poet his own Aristotle"

(I,

204).

Loginus isceupled with `a Bottle'and not with the aesthetics of

the sublime. When

Juan

is in love with Donna

Julia,

he

acts like

Wordsworth

or Coleridge,_pursing "His self-comm.union with

his

ownhigh

soul" or turning "Like Coleridgeintoa metaphysiciap"

(I,

91). When

he

thinks of

Julia's

eyes,

he

issaid to entertain `Longings _sublime',

but

Byron says: "I can't

help

thinking _puberty asisted"

(93).

When

Juan

rejects the Sultana'sadvances,

her

fury

_shows an _{example of} the _sublime.

He

say, "Nought's more sublime than energetic

bile,

/

Though

horrible

to see _{yet grand} to tell"

(V,

135). Byron _{refers to} the idea _{of the}

sublime often _{enough, and} there

is

_{every reason} to

believe

that

he

_was

very familiarwith the idea ef the _sublime.

His

_use of the _{notion of}

a3

the sublime in

ManLfredl

for

instance,

is_quite serious,

but

in

Don

Juan

and elsewhere

he

often _uses the ideato _ridicule

human

passions.

As

for Lucretius,Byron's

journals

and letterscontain a fairnumber

of allusions to this _philosopher. Lucretiusisassociated with irreligion

there, and in his letterto

John

Murray of March 15 1822,Byron _quotes

a

line

from

Lucretius's

De

Rerum

Natura on religion, which isrendered

into'English by McGann thus: "So

potent was religion in_persuading to

adi

evil deeds". The introductionof Lucretiusin stanza 43 shows one facet

of

his

attitude to orthodox _religion in Don ,Jbean.

Byron is

fond

of referring to another philosopher, Plato.

He

says:

"Oh-Plato! _Plato!

you

have

paved the way,1With your confounded

fantasies,

to more

1

Immoral conduct by the fanciedsway"

(I,

116). The

word `Platonic' is also used twice in

Don

.laan

L

In stanza 79 Byron

talks about Platonic

love,

which, the narrator slyly _says, "matrons _want

to believethernselves experiencing". The phrase, `platonic squeeze' isalso used in stanza 11J in connection with Platoniclove. He employs Plato and itsderivatives,PIatonic,Platonism,Platonical12times inall in

Don

Juan,

but

in none of these cases is

he

seriously talking about Platoand

his ideas.Plato isthere to

be

made

fun

of

because

of

his

Platonic

love,

which Byron makes use of to show that man ismade of

flesh,

and that

itisnot easy to rebel against it.

Human

nature in all its facetswill

have itsown way, and this isone of the major themes expounded inDon

,hdan throughout. He ence refers to

Plato's

`dialogues dramatic'

when he

talks about Socrates'"penchant...for

beauty"

(XV-86).

He _{mentions a}

Platonicideawhen he says, "flesh is

form'd

of

fiery

dust".

Plato

is even

called `a

pimp'

(V,

1), and Platonicloveisseen inthe

light

of "senses'...

those movements. ..in _our

bodies"

(IX,

74-5).Elsewhere,Byron uses the

expression `Platonic

blasphemy'

(X,

43).Although

he

does

say that the

noblest kind of Love is `Love Platonical',

we know he does not _quite

mean that.

Juan

issaid to _possess `the purest Platonism at bottom of

all his feelings'

(X-54),

but itis very easy

for

him to

forget

them.

PIatonismissaid to lead`women astray'.

(XIV,

92). Thus Platonism is

something _quite unpractical inthis world of senses. On the whole, Byron

uses Platonism to show that fleshisfrail,thus showing

how

impractical

Platonism isfor rnen and women in loveto practice.Of course, Plato said _many other things,

but

Byron

_{remain$ very selective} in talking about

Plato.

In addition to classical writers, Byron also refers to many

liteTary

names of hisown times as well as those of the

Seventeenth

and eighteenth

centuries. The narrator says: "Thou shalt believein Milton, Dryden,

Pope;

₁

Thou shalt not set up Wordsworth, Coleridge,Southey"

(I,

205).

In this stanza are also

listed

the names of the contemporary _poets

he

favors:Crabbe,Campbell,

_Samuel

Rogers and

Thomas

Moore, as against

"Wordsworth, _Coleridge

and Southey". The latterthree are already

treated in the Dedicationin a similar vein, and they are attacked

from

both

literary

and _{politicalpoints} of view.

In

the DedicationByron makes

use of Milton as a contrast to the lake_poets.

He

_gives the reason why

the word Miltoniccomes to mean `sublime? This isbecauseMilton did

not change

his

_politicalcredo as the lake _poets have done in Byron's

view. He was able to stand against the reigning monarch. In the _poem

itselfMilton is

_depicted

thus, "Dante's Beatrice

and Milton'sEve

1

Were

not

drawn

from

their spouses, _you conceive"

(III,

10). The narrator says

furtherthat

Milton

was not a model _person in schools and so

forth,

even

though

he

is`the

prince of _poets'. He issaid to have been "wbipt at

college-a harsh sire-odd spouse,

1

For the

first

Mrs.Milton left

his

house"

(III,

91). Interestingly,however, this comment _on

Milton

is

again followed by a denigratingcomment on Southey,

Wordsworth

and

.

Coleridge:

All are not moralists,

like

Southey, when

He

pratedto the world of `Pantisocrasy';

Or

Wordsworth

unexcised, unhired, who then

Season'd

his

pedlar poems with

democracy;

Or Coleridge,long

bfore

his

fiightypen

Let

to the

Morning

Post itsaristocracy;

When

he

and Southey, followingthe same _path,

Espoused two partners

(millners

of Bath.)

(III,

93)

'

In

spite of

his

domestic troubles, Milton's _{politicalposition} is

highly

extolled and considered to

be

ant-ithetical to that of those three _poets.

Dryden appears in Canto III

(100

and 105) where he calls for the shades of Dryden and Pope,saying "Oh! Ye shades of Pope and Dryden,

are we come to this?"

(100)

Thus, whenever Byron mentions Dryden and

Pope, the lakepoets are

brought

in as acontrast. As

for

Pope,

however,

since he isByron'shero,

he

is more often referred to in Don ,Jtian.

In

total the name of Pope is used eleven times.,We

know

he is _quoted

frequentlyin English Bards and

Hints

from

Horace.'

This is the case

with Dryden too, but to a lesser

degree.

So when he talks about these

Augustan

poets,

his

purpose isto _praise them and to talk about them in

contrast to the

lake

_poets. Whether Byron in_practice

follows

and hands

down

the tradition of the

Augustans

whom

he

so much admires or not

isa totally differentmatter. They are there again to stand as a case of

antithesis to the lake _poets.

So what does the cataloguing of literarynames mean to Byron? In

Don

.h{an I,he wants to convince the reader that he iswriting an epic

in his own right and fashion,and that the theme of his_poem is!ove.

In order to do this he

freely

refers to literarynames, the bearersof which

either wrote epics or $ang about love.He also sets

forth

hisideaof what

poetryand _politicsought to beby talking about Milton,Dryden and Pope

as against Wordsworth, Coleridgeand Southey. The abundance of literary

names 'found in Don ,lvan I tells how much Byron

depends

upon the

literarytradition

he

has been brought up with, to create hisown _poetry.

'

Notes

(1)

All the _quotations fromDoriJuan and ChildeHarold'sPilgrimage are from

Lord

Byren:

The ComPlete PoeticalI)Vorks,ed.Jerome J.McGann

(Oxford,

Clarendon Press,1980-93),7 vols. This edition iscited hereafteras CPIV.

(2)

Lord Byron,

_Byron's

Lettersand Jburnals,ed. LeslieA.Marchand

(London,

Jehn

Murray, 1973-82), 12 vols, V, p.131. This edition iscited hereafteras

BLJ.

(3)

Ibid.p.129.

(4>

For the Iiterary tradition concerning the Fallof Terni,see Itsuyo

naka,

B3,ron

and lta{y : A Stady

of

ChildeZIarold'sPilgrimage IV

(Kyoto,

Academic Societyof Ryukoku University,2002), _pp. 85-90).

(s)

See hisMcGann's note in CPIV, _p.676.

(6)

"To _Thomas Moore,Written

the Evening Before his Visit to Mr.Leigh

Hunt in Cold Bath FieldsPrison,May 19,1813",CPIV, III,p.88. Il.1-2.

(7)

English Bards and Scotch Reviexvers,t.285.CPW, _I,p.237.

(8)

See the note in CPW, _p.287.

(g)

Frederick,Beaty,llyronthe Satirist

(DeKaleb,

Nothern IllinoisUniversity,

Press,1985), p.125.

aq

CPW, V, p.1. McGann says inhisnote to this motto thus: "Byron

once

translated the motto as "Tis not slight task towrite on common things"

(CPW,

V, p.670).

aD

See McGann's note to this stanza in CPVCi,V,_p.681.

aZ

See Revue de l'U>ziversitgdeMoncton: Des Actesselectionnes der30eCongrbs

international sur ElyronKBptronand The Romantic Sublime> _sous ladirection

de Paul M.Curtis (Universit6de Moncton, Moncton, 2005).

asi

See ItsuyoHigashinaka, "ManLfred

and the Sublime" in ibid.,_pp.63-74 on

Byron's use of the idea of the sublime ina serious vein.

a4

See McGann's note in BLJ; IX,_p.126.

*This article is based upon a paper read at the 31st InternationalByron

Conferenceheld at Dublin,Irelandin the summer of 2005.

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