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Byron and GodRepresentations of Religion in the Writings of Lord ByronGregory OlsenA thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor ofPhilosophy in English, the University of Auckland, 2010.1
AbstractAlthough Lord Byron’s poetry has been studied in some depth over the last twohundred years, one particular aspect of that poetry has often been slighted: hisrepresentation of religion. Religion is a major feature of Byron’s poetry, both as asource of imagery and as a subject of commentary. In the early nineteenth century,readers could be expected to understand and to respond to a range of biblicalreferences and theological concepts, and this thesis explores those representations.Ten of Byron’s major poems are considered in detail here: Childe Harold’sPilgrimage, Don Juan, The Giaour, The Bride of Abydos, The Corsair, Lara, TheSiege of Corinth, Manfred, Cain, and Heaven and Earth. These are the works whichfocus most heavily upon religious topics, whereas other writings by the poet arediscussed only where particularly relevant. While most of these ten concernChristianity, The Giaour, The Bride of Abydos, The Corsair, Lara, and The Siege ofCorinth deal in more detail with Islam, and some other religious systems areoccasionally mentioned.In the consideration of such representations of religion, crucial considerations are thecharacterization of God, the differences between depictions of the clergy anddepictions of the laity, the respect afforded to sacred texts, and especially thecomparison of orthodoxy (‘correct opinion’) with orthopraxy (‘correct practice’).Many of these points vary considerably throughout the corpus of Byron’s poetry, butcertain consistencies are evident. One is the generally-respectful representation of thefigure of God. Another is the frequent condemnation of heteropraxy and the carefulavoidance of criticism of orthodoxy, even to the extent of criticizing heteropraxy froman orthodox viewpoint. A third is the resistance to dogmatism, coupled with ascepticism or even a hostility towards ecclesiastical authority.Throughout his work, then, the poet validates a devout but unconventional faith, onewhich failed to please his more conservative contemporaries but which wasnonetheless far from the atheism with which he is often charged.2
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Page 5 and 6: NotesThe referencing of this thesis
Page 7 and 8: Introduction ......................
Page 9 and 10: IntroductionThe poetry of George Go
Page 11 and 12: nineteenth century, 6 and the power
Page 13 and 14: of Lord Byron (1978), and also the
Page 15 and 16: The Giaour as “a separate, disemb
Page 17: generations since, have been inclin
Page 20 and 21: The purpose of this study is to rec
Page 24 and 25: Although moral censure is consisten
Page 26 and 27: House of Lords on April 21, 1812, f
Page 28 and 29: For the British Review, William Rob
Page 30 and 31: [Harold], and the moral to be deduc
Page 32 and 33: not merely a difference of opinion,
Page 34 and 35: noting that it would have been “m
Page 36 and 37: Part of the meaning of the poem’s
Page 38 and 39: The TextOne of the initial question
Page 40 and 41: deliberate movement away from a foc
Page 42 and 43: The most recurrent proximate source
Page 44 and 45: understanding, nor yet favour to me
Page 46 and 47: Nature: “Age shakes Athena’s to
Page 48 and 49: Religion is further questioned as t
Page 50 and 51: Our life is a false nature - ’tis
Page 52 and 53:
the fallen world, and separation fr
Page 54 and 55:
epeatedly throughout the poem, a si
Page 56 and 57:
idolatrous course: “Three hosts c
Page 58 and 59:
Earth paved like Heaven (3.50.444-9
Page 60 and 61:
egarding “Wahab’s rebel brood w
Page 62 and 63:
The Greeks also - a kind of Eastern
Page 64 and 65:
Idol, saint, virgin, prophet, cresc
Page 66 and 67:
Is’t not enough, unhappy thing! t
Page 68 and 69:
Christ! it is a goodly sight to see
Page 70 and 71:
“thunder, and flame” of the thu
Page 72 and 73:
As haunts the unquench’d soul - p
Page 74 and 75:
e called reflective; for dogmatic f
Page 76 and 77:
Of mortal bondage, by these spirits
Page 78 and 79:
Thou glorious mirror, where the Alm
Page 80 and 81:
of the world, it is the home of fai
Page 82 and 83:
Religion itself does not play a maj
Page 84 and 85:
Its poetical merits have been extol
Page 86 and 87:
The Poet’s DefenceMuch of the sca
Page 88 and 89:
what the Writer says of D[on] J[uan
Page 90 and 91:
Our hearts first in the depths of L
Page 92 and 93:
Since Kinnaird was not Murray, the
Page 94 and 95:
His reference to their Christianity
Page 96 and 97:
Juan lays claim. The claim of the s
Page 98 and 99:
factor in all of them is the unlimi
Page 100 and 101:
Further, in reasserting the role of
Page 102 and 103:
common view of the proper role of a
Page 104 and 105:
But though I am a temperate theolog
Page 106 and 107:
I don’t pretend that I quite unde
Page 108 and 109:
It is such incongruities between th
Page 110 and 111:
(1.194.1546-7) for his interests, m
Page 112 and 113:
You have freed the blacks - now pra
Page 114 and 115:
as a moral warning to guard against
Page 116 and 117:
Perpetual Virginity. At this point,
Page 118 and 119:
this I heard her say, and can’t b
Page 120 and 121:
could refer to Jesus’ own bloody
Page 122 and 123:
classes. The exhortation, while fac
Page 124 and 125:
it does not support Christian exclu
Page 126 and 127:
As Hell - mere mortals who their po
Page 128 and 129:
particular, and so “Turk” is in
Page 130 and 131:
Consistently, war is damned by a co
Page 132 and 133:
ead your Bible, sir, and mind your
Page 134 and 135:
the steward reduces someone’s deb
Page 136 and 137:
Don Juan includes a questioning of
Page 138 and 139:
This is one of the passages which t
Page 140 and 141:
accept more readily the inconclusiv
Page 142 and 143:
You bind yourself, and call some mo
Page 144 and 145:
By those who sow them in a land tha
Page 146 and 147:
The agnosticism of Don Juan is unsy
Page 148 and 149:
Notably, the poet does not repeat t
Page 150 and 151:
So Cuvier says; - and then shall co
Page 152 and 153:
This view of Creation as diminution
Page 154 and 155:
Universe universal Egotism!That all
Page 156 and 157:
Notably, it is the ‘ideal’ whic
Page 158 and 159:
might occur here below. Much the sa
Page 160 and 161:
nor wholly mortal, and the Virgin M
Page 162 and 163:
championed in the House of Lords. A
Page 164 and 165:
so that even when he pray’dHe tur
Page 166 and 167:
To claim that it is wit based on de
Page 168 and 169:
If we were told suddenly that Canto
Page 170 and 171:
The Eastern Tales: Islam versus Chr
Page 172 and 173:
Byron’s use of Turkish and Arabic
Page 174 and 175:
Religious and Ethnic TensionEurocen
Page 176 and 177:
[….]Gloom is gathered o’er the
Page 178 and 179:
discrimination absent from his sour
Page 180 and 181:
Muslims may be included amongst the
Page 185:
culture.” 283 It is worth noting,
Page 188 and 189:
It is to be observed, that every al
Page 190 and 191:
Christian apologists nearly every t
Page 192 and 193:
the description of the scene surrou
Page 194 and 195:
On its table still beholdThe cup of
Page 196 and 197:
Whereas the Turkish troops are bloo
Page 198 and 199:
“conditional immortality”, in w
Page 200 and 201:
The immortal virgins appear again i
Page 202 and 203:
expression of it is, in part, merel
Page 204 and 205:
This is a far more politic represen
Page 206 and 207:
their much more limited value: toys
Page 208 and 209:
unusual, or at all specific to his
Page 210 and 211:
Gulnare to die painfully than to be
Page 212 and 213:
eating the fruit. Genesis describes
Page 214 and 215:
fails to fit in with his ideals, an
Page 216 and 217:
(C 3.8.301), but this, too, is miti
Page 218 and 219:
and them as devils. Nonetheless, th
Page 220 and 221:
factor. The struggle between determ
Page 222 and 223:
Notably, for his despair to be stro
Page 224 and 225:
In pain, my faltering tongue had tr
Page 226 and 227:
Ere his very thought could pray,Una
Page 228 and 229:
Satan, appears in the work of a few
Page 230 and 231:
It is worth noticing, too, that alt
Page 232 and 233:
Conrad is about to attack Seyd, and
Page 234 and 235:
ut the Christian narrator is in no
Page 236 and 237:
another spice of wickedness. Furthe
Page 238 and 239:
despite the many pages which Sale d
Page 240 and 241:
etween Manfred and Astarte. 378arti
Page 242 and 243:
on the same level as Manfred, and s
Page 244 and 245:
dropped from “a dreadful height
Page 246 and 247:
May light upon your head (3.4.48-50
Page 248 and 249:
out of heaven, /Where thou art not
Page 250 and 251:
possibly a reference to someone lik
Page 252 and 253:
genuflection. In part, this may be
Page 254 and 255:
comments about the nature of this u
Page 256 and 257:
the one who delivers this curse, es
Page 258 and 259:
In Genesis, in the middle of the ga
Page 260 and 261:
And ask them what it is we dread to
Page 262 and 263:
clay again” (2.2.78-9). The Witch
Page 264 and 265:
DespairOne of the contemporary obje
Page 266 and 267:
need punishment, as he himself come
Page 268 and 269:
Manfred refers to “the Maker” a
Page 270 and 271:
dead?”, presenting support for th
Page 272 and 273:
Viewing himself as the cause of her
Page 274 and 275:
Every reader will be struck with th
Page 276 and 277:
Which makes you tremble - by the cl
Page 278 and 279:
he is no Prometheus but a Prometheu
Page 280 and 281:
Devil to resist. This displaces the
Page 282 and 283:
describes it as “Byron’s comple
Page 284 and 285:
a few feeble declarations of the wo
Page 286 and 287:
to one another. 455 Contemporary cr
Page 288 and 289:
nothing to do” (McGann 5.297:72-3
Page 290 and 291:
much about one or the other? They c
Page 292 and 293:
While the reversal (peripeteia) and
Page 294 and 295:
lasphemy, all must fall prostrate b
Page 296 and 297:
It is useful to consider that Lucif
Page 298 and 299:
Innumerable, more endurable,By the
Page 300 and 301:
The prospect’s partner enters, an
Page 302 and 303:
poet: the assumption is that the ch
Page 304 and 305:
knowledge. When Cain has said that
Page 306 and 307:
she says that God has told them tha
Page 308 and 309:
These exchanges, along with the ref
Page 310 and 311:
topic in which he is only losing gr
Page 312 and 313:
Him makes thee mine the same. (1.1.
Page 314 and 315:
following him will prevent Adah’s
Page 316 and 317:
Cain’s primary interest is the sa
Page 318 and 319:
The immediately evident difference
Page 320 and 321:
Cain’s eventual realization by 2.
Page 322 and 323:
wife in cursing his son (3.1.448).
Page 324 and 325:
Thy guide hath done thee evil (3.1.
Page 326 and 327:
GodWith the contemporary responses
Page 328 and 329:
Cain, “thou art evil” (2.2.220)
Page 330 and 331:
Lucifer attempts to answer it by an
Page 332 and 333:
answer to the question: 525 in gene
Page 334 and 335:
ADAH:thy God is alone; and is he ha
Page 336 and 337:
The reception of the two dramas has
Page 338 and 339:
orthodox viewpoints. Raphael is con
Page 340 and 341:
The versions in Heaven and Earth co
Page 342 and 343:
No, not to save all earth, were ear
Page 344 and 345:
It is also reminiscent of the Genes
Page 346 and 347:
of Calvinism: as Ray Stevens notes,
Page 348 and 349:
degree than their actions thus far.
Page 350 and 351:
DogmatismThe dogmatism of the chara
Page 352 and 353:
while Noah claims to not be judgeme
Page 354 and 355:
Then dieWith them!How dar’st thou
Page 356 and 357:
He appears, at first, to have been
Page 358 and 359:
[…]blessed be the Lord (1.3.883-4
Page 360 and 361:
cataclysm in which everyone else wi
Page 362 and 363:
the criticism of the unorthodoxy of
Page 364 and 365:
ConclusionThere is a reverent impat
Page 366 and 367:
are vicious bigots, and its God is
Page 368 and 369:
This radical reinvention of religio
Page 370:
not the triumphantly outreaching se
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