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'Famous from all antiquity' : Etna in Classical Myth and Romantic Poetry

Duffy, Cian LU (2021) p.37-54
Abstract
In the early eighteenth century, the Sicilian volcano Etna was still primarily familiar to European culture through its many classical associations. This chapter examines the interaction between classical accounts of Etna and other, developing genres of describing and representing that mountain in the writings of some famous eighteenth-century travelers and ‘natural philosophers’. In paving the way for the modern science of volcanology, such writers both retain and depart from the tropes of classical writing about Etna, and, in so doing, enable new figurative appropriations of the volcano and volcanic processes in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century English poetry. As an example of such classically-derived appropriations, the... (More)
In the early eighteenth century, the Sicilian volcano Etna was still primarily familiar to European culture through its many classical associations. This chapter examines the interaction between classical accounts of Etna and other, developing genres of describing and representing that mountain in the writings of some famous eighteenth-century travelers and ‘natural philosophers’. In paving the way for the modern science of volcanology, such writers both retain and depart from the tropes of classical writing about Etna, and, in so doing, enable new figurative appropriations of the volcano and volcanic processes in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century English poetry. As an example of such classically-derived appropriations, the chapter concludes with an examination of the use of volcanism as a figure for industry in the Botanic Garden of Erasmus Darwin and in the poems written about the new ironworks at Coalbrookdale, by Darwin’s friend and contemporary, Anna Seward. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
volcanoes, classical myth, science, poetry, industrialization, Etna, Erasmus Darwin, Anna Seward
host publication
Mountain Dialogues from Antiquity to Modernity
editor
Hollis, Dawn and Konig, Jason
pages
37 - 54
publisher
Bloomsbury Academic
ISBN
978-1-3501-6285-3
978-1-3501-6283-9
978-1-3501-6282-2
DOI
10.5040/9781350162853.ch-002
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0bfa55f4-69e5-413c-af20-6851e67469d5
date added to LUP
2020-02-17 13:43:43
date last changed
2021-05-05 13:20:04
@inbook{0bfa55f4-69e5-413c-af20-6851e67469d5,
  abstract     = {{In the early eighteenth century, the Sicilian volcano Etna was still primarily familiar to European culture through its many classical associations. This chapter examines the interaction between classical accounts of Etna and other, developing genres of describing and representing that mountain in the writings of some famous eighteenth-century travelers and ‘natural philosophers’. In paving the way for the modern science of volcanology, such writers both retain and depart from the tropes of classical writing about Etna, and, in so doing, enable new figurative appropriations of the volcano and volcanic processes in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century English poetry. As an example of such classically-derived appropriations, the chapter concludes with an examination of the use of volcanism as a figure for industry in the Botanic Garden of Erasmus Darwin and in the poems written about the new ironworks at Coalbrookdale, by Darwin’s friend and contemporary, Anna Seward.}},
  author       = {{Duffy, Cian}},
  booktitle    = {{Mountain Dialogues from Antiquity to Modernity}},
  editor       = {{Hollis, Dawn and Konig, Jason}},
  isbn         = {{978-1-3501-6285-3}},
  keywords     = {{volcanoes; classical myth; science; poetry; industrialization; Etna; Erasmus Darwin; Anna Seward}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{37--54}},
  publisher    = {{Bloomsbury Academic}},
  title        = {{'Famous from all antiquity' : Etna in Classical Myth and Romantic Poetry}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781350162853.ch-002}},
  doi          = {{10.5040/9781350162853.ch-002}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}