Byron and the distorted prism
‘ Instead of considering what they have been, and speculating on what they may be, let us look at them as they are. And here it is impossible to reconcile the contrariety of opinions: some, particularly the merchants, decrying the Greeks in the strongest language; others, generally travellers, turning periods in their eulogy, and publishing very curious speculations grafted on their former state, which can have no more effect on their present lot, than the existence of the Incas on the future fortunes of Peru. ’ Despite Byron’s cynical commentary, it is nonetheless evident that his views are grounded in the political reality he is observing, as Greek modernity informs his perceptions ( ‘ instead of considering what they have been… let us look at them as they are’ ), positive or negative. As Schoina 2021 summarizes: ‘ These [conflicting accounts] indicate a mind struggling with the political realities and absurdities of his time. ’ Ultimately, then, whilst it is undeniably true that allusions to Greek antiquity pervade CHP , the role of Byron’s classical knowledge in informing his perceptions of Greece has perhaps been overstated by commentators; subtle subversions, be that admiration for the modern landscape or tonal repurposing, exist beneath the superficial strictures of philhellenic literary tradition which seemingly constrain CHP’s verse. More explicit is Byron’s suspicion of incessant use of Greek antiquity to inform one’s opinio n of Greece, and further obvious still is the poet’s condemnation of prejudices against Greece rooted in Greek antiquity. Byron’s relationship with Greek antiquity is therefore a deeply troubled one, in which he is unsure whether to emphasize the ‘ sad relic ’ or ‘ living landscape ’ of Greece (Schoina, 2021) . Rather, what is clear in Byron’s ambiguities, though, is that Greek antiquity was not the ultimate or wholly defining influence upon his perception of Greece; rather, he grappled with such conformity at every stage through the filter of his first-hand experience of the modern nation, a filter that constantly urged hi m to shift focus, however slightly, from the ‘distorted prism’ of Greek antiquity. Having established the ways in which Byron worked to undermine the classical elements within CHP , as well as his condemnation of those who were over-influenced by Greek antiquity, I will now show how Byron was actively influenced by modern Greece in CHP . The very nature of the text itself as a ‘revolutionary’ travelogue clearly demonstrates the influence of Greek modernity on Byron. Vast portions of Canto II read almost like a tour guide to locations in Athens, such as the aforementioned descriptions of Greece’s natural beauty. Although one could perhaps categor ize such descriptions of modern Greece as unintended byproducts borne out of Byron’s need for a ‘tragic contrast’ between the greatness of antiquity on the one hand and fallen modernity on the other, the contemporary evidence disputes this. It can instead be argued that CHP was the first travelogue of its kind that actively sought to convey a sense of the modern Greece to its reader, so that Byron could ‘ distinguish [his] publication from eighteenth-century travelogues about Greece, as well as those being published by … contemporaries, by emphasizing that [he] possessed a unique understanding of the territory and people that few other writers had ’ 3 (Grammatikos, 2018, p. 73). Indeed, one can identify within the fabric of
3 Interestingly, such a desire was initially created through a rivalry that Byron’s associate Hobhouse had with fellow writer Edward Daniel Clarke, with Byron standing in solidarity with his close friend to produce volumes that would outcompete Clarke’s own novel. Byron: ‘he knows little of Romaic, so we shall have that department entirely to ourselves, I tell you this that you need not fear any competition’ October 22, 1811 (Byron, 1976, p. 117).
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