Byron, Lord - Richard Lansdown (essay date 1991)
Richard Lansdown (essay date 1991)
SOURCE: Lansdown, Richard. “Fantasy Elements in Byron's Sardanapalus.” Keats-Shelley Journal 40 (1991): 47-72.
[In the following essay, Lansdown investigates elements of fantasy as well as autobiography in Sardanapalus.]
Our sense of the individuality of the artist is inseparable from our sense of the human case that underlies the art.
—W. W. Robson
I
The second of Byron's three historical dramas, Sardanapalus, was written at Ravenna between 13 January and 27 May 1821. The note in Byron's journal that he had “Sketched the outline and Drams. Pers.” of this “intended tragedy,” which he had “for some time meditated,” is followed a few lines later by this entry: “news come—the Powers mean to war with the peoples.”1 This entry is not in any way remarkable. On the next page we read:
…...
[The entire page is 10519 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
