Elena Mikhailenko

D. G. Byron and the Bible Elena Mikhailenko

The critical era that gave birth to the Romantic movement awakened in the European cultural consciousness the desire to understand the place of man in a radically changed world, and thus contributed to the emergence of the Romanticists' interest in myth. Mythology not only provided the Romantics with an arsenal of motifs and images rooted in the memory of mankind, but also provided them with a tool with which to build a new system of spiritual reference points. Myth-making can be considered as a form and method of romantic artistic thinking that reflected the need of the Romantics to comprehend the fundamental principles of existence in a highly generalized, form. The author's myth of the Romantic poet, based on traditional for the English New Age culture biblical themes and imagery, is investigated on the basis of a number of works by J. G. Byron in his late works. The monograph is addressed to specialists-philologists, students and all those interested in mythology and literature.