Oddly, the landscape surrounding the Abbey creates the different feeling of "aww". The beauty surrounding the abbey includes a very green lawn, a shinning lake (reflecting a beautiful blue sky with large puffy clouds), a lovely waterfall, dense forestry, and several meticulously pruned gardens which all together create a beautiful piece of art (stunning)!! Through out my walk on the grounds, I began to despise Byron for his inability to appreciate the abundance of wealth (not monetary) but the natural magnificence in his landscape. I know that the landscape has changed in many ways since Lord Byron's residence but the lake, waterfall and stone sitting area across from the Abbey where present in his time and they are "grand" enough to be cherished.
The landscape in relation with "Child Harold's Pilgrimage", refelects him as becoming bored with natural beauty and wanting to be satiated with more of an exotic surrounding. Byron writes "Then he loathed in his native land to dwell" and I interpret this as his innermost feelings towards his home. The serene gentleness of his home was unable to invoke passion that as this time in his life he was yearning for.
The gift shop was very disappointing (in the same way the Bronte gift shop was) because it was unable to harness the "Romanticism) of Lord Byron in a souvenir. The gift shop included local baked goods, bookmakers of accredited twentieth century writers (Virginia Wolf) and Peter Rabbit books and toys. I believe the gift shop's problem in marketing is they are unable to make Byron cool. If they could interpret his poetry or life with a catchy t-shirt "Isn't IT Byronic" or small figurines of Byron to give the tourist/visitors a tangible piece of him then I don't see them making much money in the gift shop. I do understand that sometimes many literary critics are appalled when literary classics are modernized to appease the changing times but Byron could become a household name with the right catch phrase!!
If I was to compare the Newstead with Sherwood forest I would have to say that they both have one thing in common..both places give life to the stories/poems/authors. As I walked through Sherwood Forrest I began to come alive with the thought of Robin Hood and the Merry men using the Forrest as their sanctuary and I had the ability to look through Lord Byron's eyes at Newstead. To be completely honest before we left I began to sympathize with him because a young man does grow bored with the same crowd and daily activities (walking through the gardens or the woods with your dog, etc..) so for him he did have paradise in front of him but he was unable to see it at the time. The saying you don't know what you have until it's gone really applies to Byron.
I believe that the landscape of the author directly influences their personal experiences and interpretations of the world in which they write about. The Bronte's describe cold, wet desolate moors. Robin Hood is set in the Forrest because he is an outlaw and is content to live in the wilderness rather than within the walls of with in Nottingham Castle, and Byron loathed his name his home and therefore lost his home and tarnished his name forever throughout history. All of the stories so far are intertwined with the places in which new the most about (where they lived).
I really like your point that Byron couldn't appreciate Newstead, and actually felt oppressed by it, because of the time of his life when he was in residence. You make an excellent observation that, for a young man with violent passions, the tranquility of Newstead would not be appealing. I find it ironic and appropriate that you quote Joni Mitchel to describe Byron's problems: he didn't know what he had 'til it was gone.
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