The Vision of Don Roderick
The Vision of Don Roderick is a poem in Spenserian stanzas by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1811. It celebrated the recent victories of the Duke of Wellington during the Peninsular War, and proceeds of its sale were to raise funds for Portugal.
Background
The Vision of Don Roderick is based on an account given by
Summary
Don Roderick, camped outside of Toledo, ponders the outcome of his campaign against the Moors. After confession, he demands that the prelate lead him to a certain sealed chamber, known to be enchanted, which according to legend would reveal the future — but only to the "last" King of Spain.
When the chamber is opened, the king and prelate find themselves in a vast marble hall, with two giant bronze statues standing on either side. The left-hand giant carries a scythe and an hourglass, and the right-hand giant carries a mace. The hourglass runs out almost immediately after their entrance, and the other giant turns and demolishes the far wall with his mace, revealing a magic panorama.
The panorama depicts various phases in the future of Spain: first, the conquest by the Moors; second, the
Editions
The Vision of Don Roderick was published on 2 July 1811 in Edinburgh by John Ballantyne and Co., and later in the month in London by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. The price was 15s (75p). A second edition with the same date was published on 1 January 1812 in Edinburgh, and two further editions appeared in 1815 and 1821.[7]
A critical edition is due to appear in Volume 5 of The Edinburgh Edition of Walter Scott's Poetry published by Edinburgh University Press.[8]
Reception
Don Roderick was generally reckoned greatly inferior to its predecessors by most reviewers.
References
- ^ The Letters of Sir Walter Scott: 1808‒1811, ed. H. J. C. Grierson (Edinburgh, 1932), 477‒78.
- ^ Ibid., 490‒91 (Scott to William Erskine, 9 May 1811).
- ^ Ibid., 492.
- ^ Ibid., 499 (Scott to Lady Abercorn).
- ^ Edgar Johnson, Sir Walter Scott: The Great Unknown (London, 1970), 369.
- ^ Valladares, Susan (2012). "Walter Scott's Vision of Don Roderick (1811): a 'Drum and Trumpet Performance'?". Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo (18): 107–126.
- ^ William B. Todd and Ann Bowen, Sir Walter Scott: A Bibliographical History 1796‒1832 (New Castle, Delaware, 1998), 247‒52.
- ^ Walter Scott, Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field, ed. Ainsley McIntosh (Edinburgh, 2018), [ii].
- ^ For a detailed consideration of the reviews of Don Roderick see J. H. Alexander, The Reviewing of Walter Scott's Poetry: 1805‒1817, Vol. 2 of Two Studies in Romantic Reviewing (Salzburg, 1976), 380‒83.
- ^ The Edinburgh Review, 18 (August 1811), 379‒92 (383).
External links
- First edition by Google Books
- Article on the poem at the website of the University of Edinburgh Library