Robin Jarvis Robin.Jarvis@uwe.ac.uk
Madoc in Scotland: A transatlantic perspective on Stepping Westward
Jarvis, Robin
Authors
Abstract
Wordsworth's Stepping Westward, one of the Poems Written During a Tour in Scotland included in Poems, in Two Volumes (1807), has received little critical attention compared with its companion tour poem, The Solitary Reaper. This essay offers a fresh angle on the poem by placing it within the circumstances of its time of composition in late spring 1805 - circumstances that included the personal grief of bereavement and fears for national security at a critical time in the war against France. More particularly, I propose that Wordsworth's reading of Southey's epic Madoc just prior to writing Stepping Westward opens transatlantic horizons of meaning within a poem that otherwise does little to explore the metaphorical potential of its title. Just as modern scholarship has unearthed a complex textual history beneath Southey's published work that reflects his ideological journey during a tumultuous decade, so the strange irresolution of Wordsworth's poem makes sense when both the mythic and contemporary dimensions of westward travel and migration are brought into play.
Presentation Conference Type | Conference Paper (published) |
---|---|
Publication Date | Apr 1, 2008 |
Journal | European Romantic Review |
Print ISSN | 1050-9585 |
Electronic ISSN | 1740-4657 |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 19 |
Issue | 2 |
Pages | 149-156 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/10509580802030441 |
Keywords | Wordsworth, Southey, transatlantic travel |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1013857 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10509580802030441 |
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