“The Elysium of Europe”: Byron, Italy, and Europe, June 1817–July 1818

Abstract

This chapter focuses on Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Canto IV as well as other works written during its period of composition, notably Hobhouse’s Historical Illustrations of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold (1818). I argue that it is not sufficient to see Canto IV strictly in terms of sympathy for (Italian) nationalism, since this belies the important transnational themes of travel, literary fame, and classical inheritance that preoccupy the poem. But neither is it enough to interpret the poem solely in terms of cosmopolitanism, since this underemphasizes its concrete local contexts, namely Italian locations and the English language. Instead, a new approach is needed which shows how the poem presents both the locally specific as well as shared histories and traditions that cross local boundaries. The answer, I suggest, lies in analyzing how the poem constructs ideas about Europe, since analysis of that concept must account for both the local and the transnational. First, I explore how Byron uses specific places in the Italian states (especially Rome and Venice) to frame discussions of European history—that is, events and institutions which connect European countries together. Rome, for example, inspires reflections on imperial conquest, the prospect of (republican) change, classical inheritance, and Christianity. In other words, it presents culture and politics which cross national borders and can be traced across periods.