Byron's "Apostrophe to the Ocean" was born in the cradle of the romantic period, conveying
emotional writing previously considered taboo. The romantic period in itself was a revolution
that exceeded literature. While the Classical era was based on order, rules, and logic, the
romantic period was based on another foundations. The romantic period was inspired and run
by emotions and passion, nova art and wild feelings. Prior, conveying so much vigor in
literature was considered heresy of literature. Music, art, and poetry were the largest areas
effected by the revolution.
Unlike before, musicians composed their own works, free to create whatever they desired,
instead of following strict rules, guidelines, and forms of a wealthy employer. The freedom to
create music how they wanted was the fire that set music into a popular frenzy. Musical
methods that grew in popularity were operas and private plays. In turn for new innovative
thinking, musicians were starting to become rich off their passion.
Poetry was the highlight of this period. Several writers used rhyming schemes similar to
William Shakespeare, in sense of iambic pentameter with repetitive rhyme methods.
Romantics used poetry as means to idolize their loves, most commonly a woman in their life
or imaginative. The writing methods often involved metaphors, above other literary devices (
Sprague, p. 46). Allusion, alliteration, symbols, personification, irony, satire, metonymy,
similes, hyperboles, these were other highly adopted literary devices. In poetry, writers would
focus on a person, dream, or goal. A passion that they could amplify through their writings, a
target that could have an entire satirical story build around.
The romantic period also gave birth to a different form of art. Romantics sought to find a niche
that they could label as their own, so in efforts to do so they went in the complete opposite
direct from normal, culturally accepted topics. Gothic style works emerged, as romantics'
direct opposition to the Enlightenment. Topics of horror, violence, and dark artistry were the
resulting contrast to the Enlightenment's orderly and pristine techniques ( Sprague, p. 48).
These radical ideas are testimony to a romantic's need to be new and creative, regardless of
what cultural norms had to say. Leonardo De Vinci was such an artist that saw a more morbid
shadow in art.
Romantics (artist contributing to the romantic era), were not without shortcomings in their
ideals however. The main clash in idealisms was that romantics sharply disagreed with the
Enlightenment. The romantics described the Enlightenment as something they opposed and
contrasted with. Romantics would claim the Enlightenment over simplified philosophies, and
were too realistic. The Enlightenment was in fact far more similar to surreal thoughts.
Romantics proved to be arrogant in their judgment of 18th century arts and practices. They
refused to accept how much in likeness they were with the philosophies. By denying these
truths, the Romantics in turn appeared similar to Renaissance humanists in completely missed
the meaning and significance of the cultural era, which preceded their own time (NSAA).
George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron as many knew him, was a patriot of the Romantic era, and
a member of a strong noble bloodline. Well known for his poetry prowess, Lord Byron was
admired for his talents in using the "apostrophe" method of poetry ( Ehrstine, p. 2). The
apostrophe technique involves speaking to an imaginary person, or a person dead or absent.
It also can involve talking to inanimate objects as if they were an imaginary or absent person
the conversation is targeting.
George Gordon Byron was born in the year of 1788 in London. Born into nobility, he held the
title as the sixth Baron of the Byron family. Growing up in London, he attended elementary
school, that help steer him towards the field of literature. Since his early childhood, George
was lame; his left leg suffered an infantile paralysis that scourged his movements ( Watkins,
p. 5).
Lord Byron was raised in a Scottish upbringing. His love for the countryside, mountains, rivers
and such deeply contributed to his later works that would make him famous. His rural
upbringing helped him with his lame leg, yet the affliction never fully dissipated. His father,
Captain John Byron was a large influence in the young boy's life. John Byron often
encouraged, and allegedly forced on occasion, George to read and practice writing, with the
intent of steering his son towards a respectable position as a doctor or lawyer ( Watkins, p. 8).
George Gordon's awakening into the Romantic movement came jagged, his earliest works shot
down by critics. He began producing literary works the year of 1806, when he was forty years
old. His most prized works, and arguably his most widely acclaimed, were "Don Juan" and
"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", both were narrative poems (Newman p. 19). Near the end of
Byron's writing career, he presented a unique publication he titled "Apostrophe to the Ocean".
The title, "Apostrophe to the Ocean" has no connection to the grammar mark, rather it relates
to the literary device when the writer speaks to an absent, or dead person as if they were
present or personifies an inanimate object as a person not present. Following the namesake,
Lord Byron focuses the story around exclaiming wild emotions to the ocean, as if it were the
woman he sorely loved and desired.
The first four stanzas compare and contrast the earth and the ocean (Sprague, p. 66). Epic
scenery was a large part in every one of Lord Byron's works. Lines 5 through 9 show the size
of the writer's exasperation on the subject. Stanzas 10 is the first example of apostrophe in
the poem, referring to the vast ocean. Stanzas 10 through 13 actually have a person reference
within them. The phrase "The Invincible Armada" is the name of a specific Armada that
actually existed ( Sprague, p. 67). An incredibly large Spanish fleet of over one hundred and
thirty ships, left Corunna in 1858 and attacked the English fleet however was defeated. Lord
Byron himself was a sailor.
Lines 19 through 27 speak of a man challenging the earth and ocean, once again sources of
Lord Byron's passions. Lines 28 through 35 once again refer to a sea struggle, indirectly
acknowledging once again the Spanish Armada. Nelson's father, grandfather, and great
grandfather were all Naval officers. In line 35, Gordon speaks of Trafalgar. This was one of
Lord Nelson's sea fights for which he was famous for. This battle occurred off Cape Trafalgar
off of Spain's coast in 1805. There he destroyed the united fleets of France and Spain, but was
ironically killed himself during the battle (NSAA, p. 3). This irony is what Lord Byron pulls on
for the subtle flow of the poem, it's underlying message.
Lines 36 through 38 refer to ancient cities of power. Rome, Greece, Assyria, Carthage, all of
these were cities that were leaders at pinnacles of civilizations of their time. Also, all of them
fell due to inner turmoil caused by corruption of power or greed. Lines 44 through 47 create
an image of reflection (NSAA). Water, ice, and wind symbolize mirror properties. So far, Byron
has used the ocean, desert, winds and earth as images and sensory appeals. He evokes the
elements of wind, fire, water, and earth, a method in poetry commonly used in Japanese
poetry. 48 through 52 are a form of finalization in the element portion of the piece. Line 48 "
Dark-heaving; - boundless, endless, and sublime" these portray images of immortality, or life
after death ( Watkins, p. 37). The sense of awe the writer tries to bring out is represented as
something that cannot be forgotten or die.
Lines 53 through 61 contain the closing. In line 53, the apostrophe technique becomes clear.
The ocean is the inanimate object that is referred to as if it were a woman, a person capable
of emotions. The ocean represents all of the qualities the man desires, metaphorically
represented in aquatic terms. Over all, Lord Byron never truly wrote about one woman in
particular, or sometimes even a real woman at all. His many love affairs in real life have a
very small affect on his poetry, two worlds he oddly enough kept very well secluded from one
another. Byron was a romantic, he wrote about love and fervent passion, but they were of
fictitious targets, women he could only imagine.