Introduction

Abstract

Consider this: the back cover of the Oxford Authors anthology of works by Byron, certainly a mainstay for general readers and college classrooms, characterizes the poet as “the Romantic Period’s most celebrated author. No other English poet except Shakespeare exerted so great an influence on the work of later writers and artists” (Byron, Byron). Fair enough. Now compare that with the back cover of a standard Italian edition, issued by Oscar Mondadori, which similarly claims Byron as “one of the most representative figures of romantic sensibility,” but adds that, along with his “exuberance … i rony [and] … love for the fatal beauty of life and of nature,” readers will also discover that “the passion for liberty manifests itself in Byron’s works” (Byron, Opere).1 Certainly, two book jackets seem evidence far too flimsy to support a major argumentative claim, but these examples concisely illustrate a significant trend in Byron scholarship. Italian criticism, particularly that written during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, distinguishes itself from most Anglo-American criticism composed during the same period by consistently recognizing the political dimension of Byron and his writings. During the years of Byron’s residency, Italy remained a diverse agglomeration of political entities dominated by foreign powers, but over the following forty years, patriots transformed the peninsula into a nation-state.KeywordsBack CoverForeign PowerRoman RepublicGreat PoetEnglish PoetThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.