206); "_Cain_," wrote Shelley to
Gisborne
(April
10, 1822), "is apocalyptic; it is a revelation never before communicated
to man.
10, 1822), "is apocalyptic; it is a revelation never before communicated
to man.
Byron
pp.
120-138].
"_Cain_," said Moore (February 9, 1822), "has made a sensation. " Friends
and champions, the press, the public "turned up their thumbs. " Gifford
shook his head; Hobhouse "launched out into a most violent invective"
(letter to Murray, November 24, 1821); Jeffrey, in the _Edinburgh_, was
regretful and hortatory; Heber, in the _Quarterly_, was fault-finding
and contemptuous. The "parsons preached at it from Kentish Town to Pisa"
(letter to Moore, February 20, 1822). Even "the very highest authority
in the land," his Majesty King George IV. , "expressed his disapprobation
of the blasphemy and licentiousness of Lord Byron's writings"
(_Examiner_, February 17, 1822). Byron himself was forced to admit that
"my Mont Saint Jean seems Cain" (_Don Juan_, Canto XI. stanza lvi. line
2). The many were unanimous in their verdict, but the higher court of
the few reversed the judgment.
Goethe said that "Its beauty is such as we shall not see a second time
in the world" (_Conversations, etc. _, 1874, p. 261); Scott, in speaking
of "the very grand and tremendous drama of _Cain_," said that the author
had "matched Milton on his own ground" (letter to Murray, December 4,
1821, _vide post_, p.
206); "_Cain_," wrote Shelley to Gisborne (April
10, 1822), "is apocalyptic; it is a revelation never before communicated
to man. "
Uncritical praise, as well as uncritical censure, belongs to the past;
but the play remains, a singular exercise of "poetic energy," a
confession, _ex animo_, of "the burthen of the mystery, . . . the heavy
and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world. "
For reviews of _Cain: A Mystery_, _vide ante_, "Introduction to
_Sardanapalus_," p. 5; see, too, _Eclectic Review_, May, 1822, N. S. vol.
xvii. pp. 418-427; _Examiner_, June 2, 1822; _British Review_, 1822,
vol. xix. pp. 94-102.
For O'Doherty's parody of the "Pisa" Letter, February 8, 1822, see
_Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, February, 1822, vol.
"_Cain_," said Moore (February 9, 1822), "has made a sensation. " Friends
and champions, the press, the public "turned up their thumbs. " Gifford
shook his head; Hobhouse "launched out into a most violent invective"
(letter to Murray, November 24, 1821); Jeffrey, in the _Edinburgh_, was
regretful and hortatory; Heber, in the _Quarterly_, was fault-finding
and contemptuous. The "parsons preached at it from Kentish Town to Pisa"
(letter to Moore, February 20, 1822). Even "the very highest authority
in the land," his Majesty King George IV. , "expressed his disapprobation
of the blasphemy and licentiousness of Lord Byron's writings"
(_Examiner_, February 17, 1822). Byron himself was forced to admit that
"my Mont Saint Jean seems Cain" (_Don Juan_, Canto XI. stanza lvi. line
2). The many were unanimous in their verdict, but the higher court of
the few reversed the judgment.
Goethe said that "Its beauty is such as we shall not see a second time
in the world" (_Conversations, etc. _, 1874, p. 261); Scott, in speaking
of "the very grand and tremendous drama of _Cain_," said that the author
had "matched Milton on his own ground" (letter to Murray, December 4,
1821, _vide post_, p.
206); "_Cain_," wrote Shelley to Gisborne (April
10, 1822), "is apocalyptic; it is a revelation never before communicated
to man. "
Uncritical praise, as well as uncritical censure, belongs to the past;
but the play remains, a singular exercise of "poetic energy," a
confession, _ex animo_, of "the burthen of the mystery, . . . the heavy
and the weary weight Of all this unintelligible world. "
For reviews of _Cain: A Mystery_, _vide ante_, "Introduction to
_Sardanapalus_," p. 5; see, too, _Eclectic Review_, May, 1822, N. S. vol.
xvii. pp. 418-427; _Examiner_, June 2, 1822; _British Review_, 1822,
vol. xix. pp. 94-102.
For O'Doherty's parody of the "Pisa" Letter, February 8, 1822, see
_Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine_, February, 1822, vol.
