The Digressive Structure of Beppo
Graduation Date
Spring 1960
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Document Form
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Degree Granting Institution
Catholic University of America
Program Name
Humanities
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to study Lord Byron's Beppo with reference to its structure. Though Beppo is a narrative poem, the larger portion of it contains departures from the plot. These take the form of simple or elaborate digressions, analyses of ideas which often need no explanation, and even the elaboration of trivialities. I shall attempt to show how careful Byron was to link the digressive passages: first of all, to the text as he breaks away from the narrative; secondly, to the digressions which have gone before, in cases where the author makes a digression within a digression; and thirdly, back to the plot, when he shifts from the digressive matter to the thread of the narrative.
This analysis will be prefaced by a short consideration of the backgrounds of the composition of Beppo and the revision of the text of the poem.