‘Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee…’: Byron's Venice and Oriental Empire

Liberty and Independence: The Shelley–Byron Circle and the State(s) of Europe

“…Malcolm Kelsall suggests that, for Byron, Venice was not only 'the meeting place of Occident and Orient in a direct imperial and religious conflict', but also signifies the 'transition of a former imperial power to colonial status', particularly after Napoleon conquered and abolished the Venetian Republic in 1797. 13 In this respect, Venice represents the intricate constructions and tensions of European history: empire and colony, Christianity and Islam, freedom and tyranny. Byron's awareness of these complex interactions makes him cynical about unthinkingly optimistic ideas of progress, but this scepticism does not, I would suggest, define his conception of post-Napoleonic Europe and its potential for 'free' government.…”