Byron in Space

Howe, Anthony (2025) Byron in Space. The Byron Journal, 53 (1). ISSN 0301-7257

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Abstract

This essay considers Byron as a cosmological poet, as a writer, that is, who draws the ideas and images of astronomy into his work. The first part of the essay explores Byron’s continuation of the Miltonic tradition of cosmological poetry, primarily with reference to Cain . It discovers a double impulse. On one hand, Byron modernises Milton for a decided Copernican age and amplifies the existential threat implied by the realisation of unstructured and infinite outer space. On the other, he disrupts the narrative of scientific history by using (anachronistic) Ptolemaic imagery in order to create unique configurations of poetic thought and feeling. The second part of the essay seeks to understand these findings by placing Byron’s cosmological poetry more securely in the scientific and poetic contexts of his day.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number:	10.3828/bj.2025.3
Dates:	Date Event 10 December 2024 Accepted 15 July 2025 Published Online
Subjects:	CAH19 - language and area studies > CAH19-01 - English studies > CAH19-01-03 - literature in English
Divisions:	Arts > English and Media > English
Depositing User:	Gemma Tonks
Date Deposited:	17 Oct 2025 15:26
Last Modified:	17 Oct 2025 15:26
URI:	https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16683

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