Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Okay, so I'm gonna tell you about one of my favourite narrative poems of all time. Just wait and see how lyrically perfect, seductive and absolutely awesome the power of this poem is - and if you're not moved by it - I'm sorry, you probably read it wrong. The travels of the continent, the Byronic heroism and the sheer nature of being and remaining unsatisfied are the true compulsions of this epic poem by the "mad, bad and dangerous to know", Lord Byron. 

I fell in love with Byron when I was merely 12 or 13 years old after reading a passage or two of Don Juan. This poem however, filled me with utter emotion and purged me cathartically throughout the course of the narrative. A brilliant piece of timeless poetry that will remain as long as his legend does.

Characters:

My favourite character was Childe Harold. Obviously, he is the main character but also - he is the first instance where Byron used his unsatisfied hero to lament the discoveries of the world in a microcosm of love, torture, depression and anger. It was amazing to read a character that was heroic yet had these self-inflicted emotional scars that ultimately led him to other places. 

Themes:

My favourite theme was travelling. Travelling is certainly a big deal in the poem and has a lot to do with the satisfaction of the hero. Now, most of my degree is based on Byron (especially in Creative Writing) and I try to include him wherever I can. Purely because he deals with topics that enchant me: the first and foremost being "satisfaction, disappointment and the reader-satisfying tragedy". As Dante investigated the "poetics of chaos and harmony", Byron uses this as a character fault rather than a structural sense of setting. It truly is a brilliant theme and it comes through the most when Childe Harold travels and is left unsatisfied for sensation. 

Storyline:

Again, regarding the travelling - it was my favourite part of the piece. The search for new sensation to fulfil the hedonistic lifestyle of a Romantic Rockstar. This lamenting, tragic and sensational hero is the image that we most commonly associate with the Romantic Hero today - and it is because of Lord Byron that we do this.

Verdict:

I give this book 9

100% for character: I don't think one can get more Byronic than the Childe Harold. It was Byron's first sense of showcasing his hero after his own travels on the continent after university. 

100% for themes: Travelling, as you will find in Byron's epic poems, is a big theme - as is sensation. Both are linked in the most fascinating ways. 

100% for storyline: Byron has enchanting storylines at all times and truly does capture the senses of satisfaction and disappointment in the all three sections discussed. The storyline being the strongest of these.