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Sir Walter Scott
THE VISION OF DON RODERICK (1811) Reviewed by Patrick Killough I. Review for www.amazon.com Reviewer's rating of THE VISION OF DON RODERICK * * * * FOUR STARS Title of this review: DON RODERICK'S VISION UNITES ELEVEN CENTURIES OF SPANISH HISTORY. In 1808 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain under cover of reinforcing Spanish and French forces in Portugal. He then treacherously installed his older brother Joseph as King of Spain. During less than five years on the throne Joseph did two notable things: he abolished the Spanish Inquisition and he inspired Venezuela to be the first American territory to secede from the Spanish Empire. King Joseph also witnessed the rise of "guerrilla" warfare by irregular native opponents of his rule. To combat these Napoleon poured 120,000 French troops into Spain. In August 1808 British forces under Wellesley landed in Portugal in support of a popular uprising. In 1811 a 40-year old Edinburgh lawyer and poet, Walter Scott, was moved to write a poem celebrating the first ever defeats of Napoleon. Scott, although lamed by polio, had organized a company of armed Scottish dragoons to fight the French if they ever landed in Scotland. In THE VISION OF DON RODERICK, Scott salutes the gallant resistance fighters of Spain and Portugal and the ultimately victorious English-Scottish-Irish forces led by the Irish Peer Major General Wellesley. Scott donated the proceeds from sales of DON RODERICK to Portuguese victims of French atrocities. The best element of DON RODERICK is the fascinating world-historical literary framework for his long patriotic poem. In 713 A. D. Muslim armies had crossed from Africa into Spain. The next year they definitively defeated Christian Spanish forces led by Don Roderick, the last Visigothic King of Spain. Drawing on Spanish legend, Scott has a wicked Don Roderick demand to enter a magic chamber outside Toledo "Where,
if aught true in old tradition be,
His nation's future fates a Spanish King shall see" (X, p. 34). The enchanted chamber is guarded by two giant animated statues. "Moulded
they seemed for kings of giant race,
That lived and sinned before the avenging flood" (XIV, p. 36). The terrified King beholds successive visions of the Moorish invasion, his defeat, the generally peaceful occupation of Spain by the Muslims, followed by the Spanish reconquista and the Inquisition, Napoleon's installation of his brother on the throne and finally the opening salvoes in the struggle for freedom by Portuguese and Spanish forces decisively inspired by a disciplined British army under Wellesley. Walter Scott gives brief historical vignettes of life under various rulers of Spain. Thus toward the end of the pre-Bonaparte era, life is relaxed and happy. "Gay
Ceres summons forth her vintage band;
When for the light Bolero ready stand The Mozo blithe, with gay Muchacha met, He conscious of his broidered cap and band, She of her netted locks and light corsette, Each tiptoe perched to spring, and shake the castanet" (XXXIII, p. 49) THE VISION OF DON RODERICK may be great philosophy of history but is not great poetry. That said, it has flashes of lyric insight that compensate for often ponderous iambic pentameters. Its language is deliberately archaic. But it was good enough for the Prince Regent in 1813 to offer Scott the Poet Laureateship. This honor Scott tactfully declined. He seemed to sense that producing patriotic verse on demand was not where his literary fame was to be won. -OOO- Black Mountain, 04/10/2007, revisited 09/23/2007 http://www.patrickkillough.com/books/sirws_donroderick.html |