English Literature

Lord Byron entitled his poem Childe Harolds Pilgrimage. This title helps readers to envision a journey or an expedition that has a concrete ending and purpose. The term Pilgrimage also means that there are reasons for the journey and there will also be adventures along the way. A part of this pilgrimage is the name Childe Harold which is referring to a hero in a form of a young knight who will undergo different challenges under the circumstances of romance, threats and hardships for the benefit of being with the woman of his dreams. This woman is represented as a typical lady that is pure, innocent and is a virgin. This representation of a lady and a knight gives the appropriate situation for a romance. The circumstances that happened in the poem is similar to common romantic scenarios given that it was depicted that the woman was o pure personality and often suffers from the cruel acts of destiny, exploitation and people.

It is in this light that the pilgrimage starts under these situations and on the first line Adieu, adieu My native shore Byron implies that the journey has started for the knight. Bidding farewell to his native land and having an upbeat feeling that something adventurous will come their way. Most of the beginning lines depict sadness in parting but gives out a firm stance on success, duties and the things that must be done.  My father blessed be fervently, yet did not much complain but sorely will my mother sigh till I come back again. Furthermore Byron also indicated that Harolds assistants were also sad because they are parting with their homeland. Byron wants the reader to have definite feel of the stating emotions that fill up the characters in the poem.

On the succeeding stanzas, the social setting and tradition was slowly being showcased. The good, the bad and the ugly  Byron gives a picture of the economic and social status of his home land. The privileges of the upper class, the role of the church, the political and the social ranks that is intertwined in every aspect of the poem was clearly depicted as well as the effects of these on the pilgrimage of Childe. Merged with the lines of the poem was also a great depiction of the settings of each storyline. The countryside, the city, the seas and the battles were very much described clearly so the reader can understand the setting. It was also good that Byron inserted his own experiences in his voyages in this poem and one of the important insertions was regarding the romance between him and her lady. On the narration of the poem, Byron offered his own views and the character that plays as a narrator in the poem. Each line provides a string of hope but creates a void that is further fulfilled by the next passages  For pleasures past I do not grieve, nor perils gathering near my greatest grief is that I leave No thing that claims a tear.

Overall, the typical hero that Byron wants to depict was not shown however Childe was portrayed in way that the reader will envision what a hero is in Childe Harolds character. Basically, with regards to romance, Byron did not go through the usual accomplishment of the duties of a hero but rather gave out the clear-cut description of a hero himself. At the end of the poem, there was a fusion of Byron and the narrator in the poem. Welcome, welcome, ye dark blue waves And when you fail my sight, Welcome ye deserts, and ye caves My native land - Good Night