Byron and the distorted prism
discrepancies of his feelings towards the modern political reality of Greece in the ‘Notes’ section (as in CHP ), Byron interweaves his enigmatic musings into the very fabric of the verse itself.
I t may appear to some that any ‘conjunction’ in the verses included above is extremely weighted: overt antiquity and implied modernity. To some extent this is true: ‘ The Isles of Greece ’ is regarded as one of the most famous expressions of Byron’s philhellenism by invoking the Arcadian life of ancient Greece. Indeed, Lloyd Jeffrey points out that in Don Juan, the tally of all mentions of Greek antiquity (that is myth, history, geography, philosophy, writers) amounts to 174 items and 381 entries (Jeffrey, 1966, p. 77). Yet Byron, just as he did in CHP , subverts such allusions, rectifying the equilibrium between Greek antiquity and Greek modernity. Jeffrey comments that ‘ Apart from sections in Don Juan where antiquity is a necessary feature of setting, Byron is disposed to mainly show his familiarity with ancient lore in more rollicking and satirical sections ’ and that ‘ [there are] few ancient allusions in humorless parts such as description of the tempest in canto II. ’ Indeed, the very nature of Don Juan as a ‘mock epic’ means that the poem is intended to ‘ poke[s] fun at the elevated style and heroic themes present in traditional epic poetry … [and] subvert the qualities of classic epics and thus mock their loftiness ’ (Jauregui, 2010). Byron repeatedly draws on (and satirizes) ancient/classical writers and philosophers as a form of humour; his narrator takes great joy in pointing out the lewd contents of the works of many ancient writers while Juan’s mother, Donnia Inez, hilariously attempts to censor her son’s classical education ( Canto II, Stanza’s 41 -42):
His classic studies made a little puzzle, Because of filthy loves of gods and goddesses, Who in the earlier ages raised a bustle, But never put on pantaloons or bodices; His reverend tutors had at times a tussle, And for their Aeneids, Iliads, and Odysseys, Were forced to make an odd sort of apology, For Donna Inez dreaded the Mythology. Ovid ’s a rake, as half his verses show him, Anacreon’s morals are a still worse sample, Catullus scarcely has a decent poem, I don’t think Sappho’s Ode a good example …
The use of Greek antiquity for comedic purposes certainly contrasts with the wallowing laments they facilitated in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage 4 when Byron was only just beginning to subvert some of these classical norms. It is therefore possible to suggest that as Byron matured, Greek antiquity is even less of an influence on his perception of Greece. Rather, such classical allusions enable the ‘mock - epic’ style of Don Juan and Byron’s ‘ tongue and cheek verbal legerdemain ’ (Jeffrey, 1966, p. 78). The jocular use of Greek classicism/antiquity, then, should serve to assuage any doubts about the continued dominance of such antiquity (over modernity) in Don Juan ; the premise of conjunction between the two is supported by the fact that when antiquity is repurposed to express Byron’s thoughts on Greek modernity, the tone is far more serious than the comedic stanzas above. This ultimately proves a
4 As in CHP II, Stanza 85: ‘And yet how lovely in thine age of woe,/Land of lost gods and godlike men, art thou!’
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