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.
Citation
Jarvis, R. (2008). Madoc in Scotland: A transatlantic perspective on Stepping Westward. European Romantic Review, 19(2), 149-156. https://doi.org/10.1080/10509580802030441
Journal Article Type | Conference Paper |
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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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