The Grand Tour and Mary Shelley's Six Weeks' Tour

The Grand Tour

The tradition started in the late 1600's to 1840s. The idea was to gain necessary criteria for social advancement. It was a conventional idea that served as an educational rite of passage pursued by young, aristocratic and British males. It wasn't until the 18th and early 19th century when it was more accessible to the middle class after the progression of rail and steamships.

The tour lasted between 2 and 3 years. The tour usually started in England and then proceeded Netherlands, France, Florence and Rome. The traveler usually escorted by a tutor known as a "bearleader." The tutor were responsible for presenting important buildings, paintings, and historical sites. The Grand tour was a way for a young man to appreciate a new culture, and develop a new maturity, improved taste and an understanding of foreign cultures. Because of the resources, and popularity,  many writers started to partake in these journeys, but a new travel called "Romantic travel" appeared.  It coincided with a revolution in taste, mainly in relation to the aesthetics of the sublime and the picturesque. 

Mary Shelley

Her mother was Mary Wollstonecraft and father William Godwin, a political journalist. She was taught by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Maria Edgeworth. She met and fell in love with Percy Shelley 1814 and they eloped a few years later, after his first wife committed suicide. They toured France, Switzerland and Germany before settling in Italy. Percy died in 1822 from drowning, which made her feel alone and isolated with no way to support herself so she started writing for income. She wrote for many years and helped bring some of Percy’s earlier

works to the public. She died in 1851 from a brain tumor.  Shelley was conscious of the political issues of her time and was influenced by her ather and mother and various radical thinkers that visited her household. Ideas such as abuse of power and social justice. Shelley wasn't radical, but she did bring about philosophical and social issues in her works. She believed in creating a sympathetic connection between people to create a peaceful society and increase in knowledge. She was committed to Romantic Idealism which heightened interest in nature, sublime and imagination.

History of a Six Weeks' Tour

• Addresses the effects of politics and war on France.

• The letters reflect the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo

• Describes shortage of money, dangers of encountering Napoleon’s recently demobilized army.

• In Letter II she discusses the equality in England versus the equality of other places.

• She also addresses women’s education 
The use of descriptive nature is a prevalent theme throughout Mary Shelley’sworks. 

Romantic writers and the Sublime

Changing political and cultural times

Internalized conflicts

Examples: “It exhibits an appearance as if frost had suddenly bound up the waves and whirlpools of a mighty torrent.”

“Throned among these desolating snows, among these palaces of death and frost, so sculpted in this their terrible magnificence.”

Time and the sublime examples:

“we arrived at sunset”

“when we returned, in the only interval of sunshine during the day, I walked…”

Feminine: “We see the lovely lake, blue as the heavens which it reflects, and sparkling with golden beams.”

Masculine: “Observing the lightning play among the clouds in various parts of the heavens, and dart in jagged figures upon the piny heights of Jura dark with the shadow of the overhanging cloud…”

Work cited: 

Black, Jeremy. The British and the Grand Tour. London: Croom Helm, 1985.

Cardinal, Roger. “Romantic Travel.” In Rewriting the self: Histories from the Renaissance to the Present. Edited by Roy Porter. London: Routledge, 1997.

 "The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The 18th Century: Topic 4: Texts and Contexts." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The 18th Century: Topic 4: Texts and Contexts. N.p., 2010. Web. 09 Apr. 2013.