„Wstał z chaosu, wrócił do chaosu”
First out of and then back again to Chaos

Byron and geological catastrophes

Author(s): Marcin Leszczyński
Subject(s): Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, 19th Century, Philology, British Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: George Gordon Byron; Georges Cuvier; Kain; geologia; katastrofizm geologiczny
Summary/Abstract: The essay explores how Byron, especially in his Cain, made use of a literary potential inherent in geology. His poetry is presented against the background of the development of geology with a special emphasis on the appeal of geology to popular imagination. Scientific narratives, based on catastrophic visions of history, sometimes presented violent changes of the Earth, which would become a source of aesthetic pleasure and geological sublime. The sensational aspect of geological stories placed them in a close proximity to novels, romances, epic poems or legends. Byron therefore not only transferred elements of scientific knowledge to literature, but also took advantage of some of scientific methods used in geology, and the ways of popularizing it. The essay presents how Byron made use of geological strategies connected with visualisation and imaginative interpretations or speculations (which were also typical of the readings of the Biblical story of Genesis due to the gaps in the narrative).

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