George Gordon Byron, "Childe Harold Pilgrimage": a summary. "Childe Harold Pilgrimage" - a poem in four parts

In this article we will consider the poem Byron, published in the period from 1812 to 1818, we will outline its brief content. "Childe Harold Pilgrimage" - this is the name of this famous work for the whole world.

First, let's say a few words about the history of the creation of the poem. Byron in late June 1809 began his two-year journey. He visited Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Albania, Greece. The poet was interested in how the peoples of these states live, what their culture is. The social contrasts with which he faced, in particular, struck him. Byron saw the arbitrariness of foreign and local tyrants, unlimited. He was outraged by the complete lack of rights of the local people. All these impressions resulted in the poet's reflections on the issues that make up the plot of the poem, its brief content. "Childe Harold Pilgrimage" is a work in which the author touches upon the most important themes of history and modernity, as well as eternal problems.

This two-year journey has given much to the poet. He realized that his lira should serve society. Byron felt his civic calling. In these 2 years the poet wrote the first 2 songs of his future poem "Childe Harold Pilgrimage". The very brief content of this work gives an idea only about the plot, but not about the artistic features. Therefore, before we go to the main part of the article, we will say a few words about them.

Byron Romanticism

This work is considered the first by Byron-romance, and the romance of a new type, which differs from its predecessors. George Gordon does not run from reality, unlike other word artists. The poet defends the freedom of peoples, their inalienable right to wage a national-liberation war. Byron advocates the protection of the human person from humiliation and violence. However, it requires active action from the person himself. The poet condemns him with shame for his admiration for tyranny.

Like all romantics, George Byron sang of nature. But in this respect it differed from its predecessors. The poet sang it not abstractly, but in relation to man. Byron argued that only a spiritually developed and free person can experience harmony with nature. The connection of times permeates the whole poem. The light of modernity illuminates the past and at the same time allows us to look into the future.

The main features of the work we noted. Let us now turn directly to the brief content of the poem "Childe Harold Pilgrimage."

1 song (summary)

The first part refers to Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula. The poet sympathizes with the Spaniards, who are fighting the invaders. George Byron shows the people in mass scenes, in action, when people are having fun, working, fighting. In his field of vision are and individual heroic personality. For example, he talks about a virgin from Saragossa. The poet considers the unity of the hero with the people as the key to the success of the struggle of the inhabitants of Spain for a just cause. This victory is important for other enslaved peoples who are waiting for Spain to achieve freedom. The poet hopes that the inhabitants of other countries will rise up behind her. This is what is said in the first song of the poem "Childe Harold Pilgrimage".

2 songs

The brief content of the second song of the work develops the content of the previous one. The author continues the theme of the struggling people. During the journey, Childe Harold is in Albania, and then goes to Greece.

Description of Greece

A significant part of the second song is dedicated to this country. Its description and the summary we have compiled continues. "Childe Harold Pilgrimage" is a work in which Byron sees a contrast between the past of Greece, which was once truly great, and the humiliated position of the people under the Turkish yoke. George Gordon admires the "beautiful Hellas". However, his enthusiasm is replaced by anger towards her descendants, who obeyed the yoke of conquerors-strangers. Greece, he notes, is trampled into the mud. Bend the backs of slaves under Turkish whips, but the Greek is silent. This revolts the poet.

However, his anger is replaced by the hope that the people still have the "force of indomitable freedom" inherent in their ancestors. And the poet calls on the country to rebel to fight. Byron's love for Greece is unchanged. The verses of the poem dedicated to her help us understand why George Gordon decided to participate in the struggle for the liberation of the Greek people.

Publication of the first two songs

The first two songs of the poem were born on March 10, 1812. Their summary was presented above. "Childe Harold Pilgrimage" immediately won recognition. Byron after the publication of the first two songs received great fame. His work has survived many publications, and the popularity of George Gordon grew from day to day.

3rd song

Arriving in Switzerland, Byron began to study life in this country. Everything that seemed to him remarkable, he captured in his diary and in letters. The poet described the local inhabitants, their way of life, nature, historical places. All these observations included the poem "Childe Harold Pilgrimage". The summary of the third song is offered to your attention.

It reflected the travel experience of the poet. Byron was forced to leave for Switzerland, leaving his homeland. In this country, he reflects on the Battle of Waterloo (the poet first visited this historic site), discusses the defeat of Napoleon.

Reflections on the war

The poet's view from the Battle of Waterloo goes to paintings of majestic nature. Byron does not stop to think about the fact that wars that do not stop leading humanity, for centuries, destroyed the beauty created by the hands of man, and natural. Thoughts of war reappear when the lyrical hero of the work compares the battle of Waterloo with the battle that took place in the 15th century, when the city of Morat fought for its independence. Byron notes that this battle was won not by tyrants, but by citizenship, liberty, the law. Only these goals can justify bloody wars, as George Byron believed ("Childe Harold Pilgrimage").

The summary of the third part, however, includes not only thoughts on the war. We suggest you get acquainted with other important themes of Byron's reasoning.

The connection between man and nature, the glorification of Rousseau and Voltaire

Contemplating the nature of Switzerland, George Gordon comes to the idea that everyone is a part of nature. The joy of life lies in its unity with it. Developing his thought, the poet glorifies the enlightener Rousseau, who advocated the connection of man with nature. This philosopher proclaimed the ideas of freedom and equality of people. Byron recalls another thinker, Voltaire. He prepared the minds of people for the revolution. His mind "on the foundation of doubts" created a temple of "rebellious thought."

So, in the third song of the poem, the poet's thoughts are reflected and the events that the whole world was worried at that time. Byron interweaves in easy, free narrative nature hymns, accurate and concise characteristics of various historical personalities, as well as a genre scene in which the ball before the Battle of Waterloo is depicted.

4th song

We now turn to the description of the 4th song of the poem "Childe Harold Pilgrimage". It was created in Italy and was first published in 1818. For Byron Italy became a state in which many of his life and creative ideas were embodied. It was here that George Gordon gained personal happiness after meeting with Teresa Guiccioli.

Description of Italy

It should be noted that the fourth song is the most voluminous in the work. In it, Byron seeks to create a diverse and integral image of the country, which became his second homeland. George Gordon was very fond of Italy. He admired her high artistic culture and historical past. However, the poet still looked at her as a man who did not forget his people and his native country. Until then, "while the language of Britain sounds," the great poet George Gordon Byron will preserve his homeland in his memory.

The "Childe Harold Pilgrimage" is nevertheless devoted primarily to the description of other states. In the depiction of the poet, Italy is a country that for other peoples can not become a stranger. Byron is convinced that for her honor "the peoples must rise." However, he calls the Italians themselves to fight. He says that one should remember examples from the history of his state, marked by a heroic past. In memory of people, her great sons must always remain. The poet, referring to Venice, reminds the people of "a thousand-year freedom." Byron can not see how she reconciled herself to the loss of her independence. He is convinced that the human soul is maturing and growing only in the struggle.

Reasoning about Italian heroes, thinkers and poets

In Ferarre recalls Torquato Tasso, the great poet, George Gordon Byron ("Childe Harold Pilgrimage"). A brief summary of the story associated with his name should certainly be stated.

The Duke gave the order to declare Tasso crazy, after which this poet spent 7 years in prison. Byron writes that the duke's name would have long been forgotten if his atrocities were not connected with the fate of Torquato. Italian heroes, thinkers and poets are dear to all. George Gordon calls Florence, where Boccaccio, Petrarch and Dante were born, "an ungrateful city," since here "there are not even busts." "The land of his dreams" was Rome, to whom the poet devoted a lot of stanzas. Byron's view through ruins and monuments seeks to penetrate into the depths of the centuries in order to revive long-gone times.

A look at the history

The fourth song features many descriptions of Italian sights. However, it also shows how Byron tries to overcome the established romantic idea of the history of mankind in his poem "The Pilgrimage of Childe Harold." The summary of the chapters of this work is not an easy task, as there is a lot of reasoning in it and there is practically no plot. It should be noted that often the poet amazes with his foresight of future events. He restrains his own imagination in order not to delve into arguments abstracted from reality. In excerpts dedicated to the revolution in France, George Gordon expresses the hope that the seeds sown free will in future "give no bitter fruit."

Time and eternity

Byron, as in the previous three songs, describes the beauty of nature in the fourth part of the poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", the summary of which is already approaching the finale. The image of the sea, represented at the end of the work, is unforgettable, as is the picture of the Velino waterfall, which conveys all its splendor. According to George Gordon, nature gives man the opportunity to come into contact with eternity. In the poet's consciousness, eternity is a constant category. Time is in constant motion, it is fleeting. The running of time often plunges George Byron into sadness and despondency. However, he also has certain hopes. The poet believes that in the future those who have slandered him will be exposed. Only time is the corrector of the "judgments of the false."

This concludes the "Childe Harold Pilgrimage." The summary of the songs of this work, of course, gives only the most general idea of it. It should be noted that AS Pushkin was very interested in the poem, which even carried out its translation. The work absorbed the great life experience of George Byron from his youth to the beginning of the most fruitful period in his work.