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Essay / The role of the Self in the works of Byron and Keats
The main source of feeling comes from within the Self. At least that's what Manfred and Lord Byron's "Lara: Canto the First" and Keats's "Four Seasons Fill the Measure of the Year" tell us. The implications of this are that once the internal Self has begun a process of inner torment, there is little in the universe of external circumstances that can do anything to stop or change this process. The ability of the Self to influence a person's general disposition and outlook on life may be stronger than man's ability to overcome it and, in a sense, brings to the fore the man's association with himself, others and his environment. In both of Byron's works we see examples of men tormented by a past memory that they cannot seem to forget. In Keats's work, we see a description of the mind's mastery over its subject. It is the recognition of memory and state of mind that informs the actions of the individual. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The idea of a traumatic memory is something that is echoed in both of Byron's poems. In Manfred's case, the main character is tormented by the ambiguous loss of a love. The memory itself is described without ever really being fully fleshed out, as in lines 213-216 where Manfred says, “Not with my hand, but with the heart – which broke his heart; /He looked at mine and withered. I shed blood, but not his - and yet his blood was shed - I saw it and could not stop it” (Byron, Manfred, 213-216). This adds to the mystery of memory itself, which suggests that the impression of the sum of the entire memory is more important than its individual details, and that the unique perspective of the mind subject to the impression is likely to have the greatest influence on memory itself. the form that the impression takes on the mind. Evidence of this idea can be seen in Manfred, when he says: "My sleep, if I sleep, is not sleep, but the continuation of lasting thought" (Byron, Manfred 3-4) and in "Four seasons fill the measure of a Year", where Keats writes "There are four seasons in the mind of man". (Keats, 2) In "Lara: Canto the First", we also meet a gentleman tormented by the regrets of the past and who, as a result, finds himself disconnected from the rest of society In this poem, the idea of this man tormented by his own mind is mentioned quite explicitly, when Byron writes: “One thing. to dark imaginations, which shaped / By choice he escaped perils by chance “I would have done it in vain, for in their memory again / His spirit would half exult and half regret; " (Byron, “Lara: Canto the First,” 317-320) This is similar to Manfred's lines, such as: But we, who call ourselves his sovereigns, we, half dust, half divinity, equally unfit to sink or to hovering, with our mixed essence creates a conflict of its elements and breathes the breath of degradation and pride, struggling against low wants and high will, until our mortality predominates, and men are that whom they do not name for themselves, nor confide in each other (Byron, Manfred, 300-308) In fact, the lines seem to mirror each other conceptually and reinforce the recurring theme in Keats that the. Mind is tempered by internal contradictions, experience and age, much like the changing of the seasons. The difference between Byron's poems and those of Keats is that Byron does not so much separate temperament from mind according to nature. age that according to experience Manfred's youth contrasts with his.sullen spirit, as in scene I of act II, where he says to the chamois hunter: Do you think that your existence depends on time? but actions are our times: mine have made my days and my nights imperishable. Endless, and all alike, like the sands of the shore. Countless atoms; and a dry and cold desert, on which the wild waves break, but nothing lies but the carcasses and wrecks, the rocks and the salt herbs of bitterness. (Manfred 51-58)In "Lara:Canto the First", a similar connection is made with the torment of experience on the mind, as the poem says, "It lives, and has not yet passed beyond the 'golden age of his manhood, though burned by toil and somewhat touched by time' ("Lara", 55-56). In this poem, however, Lara is described as having had her Keatsian "spring" (Keats, 3) of her youth, having been energetic and full of verve. It is not a question of maturity, but rather of temperament, for Byron's Manfred may be biologically young, but psychologically moves from a desire to be forgotten to a desire to die, (which would essentially be a dark “summer” stage of remembrance (Keats, 5)), and passes into a “winter” stage (Keats, 13). Similarly, Lara “ruminates” (Keats, 7) in a summer stage, with all the sadness and morbidity associated with her regrets. This desire to forget leads Manfred into a “winter” stage (Keats, 13). path of transcendental magic, where he attempts to dominate a series of spirits and wishes for them to undo his curse of memory. Ironically, it is this memory that dominates him, because no mind can undo it. However, his memory finally confronts him in the form of the ghost of his lost love, and it is the catalyst for his existential winter, as the Ghost says "Manfred! Tomorrow puts an end to your earthly ills./Farewell!" (Manfred 521-22). Here, Manfred is dominated by his tormented self, despite all his knowledge, power and mastery. And it is only by facing his torment, instead of forgetting it, that he will be able to pass on to death. However, when ghouls come for him, he repels them saying: The spirit which is immortal surrenders itself as a reward for its good or evil thoughts, is its own origin of evil and end, and its own place and time ; his innate sense, when stripped of this mortality, draws no color from ephemeral things without, but is absorbed in suffering or joy, born of the knowledge of his own desert. (Manfred, 389-296) The idea that feeling comes from within the mind, not from without, is explicitly stated. The implication of this is that no matter what hell or heaven Manfred experiences, it is always his own mind that will torment him the most. Manfred's duality and the torture of his own mind are also present in "Lara: Canto the First", when Byron writes: "In him an inexplicable mixture appeared: many things were loved and hated, sought and feared. Varying opinion on his hidden fate, In praise or insult, his name has never been forgotten; His silence formed a theme for the chatter of others; They guessed, they looked, they wanted to know his fate. . ("Lara", 289-294)He is the caricature of a brilliant and promising man, with the bewildering darkness and bitterness of an old veteran. There's something about him that seems contradictory and morbidly seductive, and despite his genius and moments of goodness, his attitude still inspires fear. The major difference between the two works is that Manfred looks into the transcendental to find the manifestations of his own torment, and Lara presents the duality of the self among mortals. However, this mindset caused Lara to reject her own mortality, as shown by Byron writing: "He called nature to share the, 2009.