The Bride of the Greek Isle by Felicia Hemans as an Example of Romantic Literature

"The Bride of the Greek Isle" and Romanticism Romanticism, as defined by The Longman Anthology of British Literature, Vol. 2A, is "a term describing qualities that colored most elements of European and American intellectual life in the late 18th and early 19th centuries" (p. 1193). These qualities include the stress of individuality, the accentuation of emotions, and the reverence of nature, many of which were found in art, literature, philosophy, and even politics. Felicia Hemans's poem "The Bride of the Greek Isles" (p.

940-945) exemplifies Romantic literature through its portrayal of heroine Eudora, emphasis of emotions, and reverence of nature.

Eudora is the main character of Hemans's poem, the Bride of the Greek Isle herself; she is described in the beginning of the poem as an adorned bride lamenting her surroundings and bidding farewell to the life she is leaving behind. The heroine seems at first no more than the traditional romantic woman to be wed, but as the plot thickens, her situation (and, more importantly, her responses to it) is anything but typical.

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When a horde of pirates lay siege to her wedding ceremony, Eudora is left clinging to her dear husband lanthis, lying "with the blood from his breast in a gushing flow" (line 141). She hardly has time to cling to him before she is captured and taken prisoner on the pirate ship.

Notably, Felicia Hemans uses an excerpt from Lord Byron's Sardanapalus as epigraph to her own work:

Fear!_-I'm a Greek, and how should I fear death?
A slave, and wherefore should I dread my freedom?
I will not live degraded.

(p. 940)

As Eudora's mother scans the ocean for signs of life, she hears*a piercing cry [burst] from the heart of the ship on high" and sees fire beginning to consume the vessel (lines 81-82). As the crew try in vain to put the blaze out, Eudora stands alone on the deck, "a brand blazing up high in her lifted hand": she choses to burn her captors and herself alive in an act of fervent vengeance lines 203-204). Eudora lays claim to individuality a highly valued characteristic of figures in Romantic literature when she, like the speaker of Byron's Sardanapalus, abhors the idea of slavery (in this case, most likely sexual) and would rather end her life than live degraded.

Also, characters of "The Bride of the Greek Isle" (most notably Eudora) exhibit frequent, powerful emotions that are a strong aspect of Romantic literature. On the day of her wedding, Eudora is overcome with emotions and weeps as she walks around her childhood home, bidding her family goodbye and reminiscing about tending to her flowers: "The myrtle yet, oh! call it mine! The flowers I lov'd to tend" (lines 45-46). Then, following the gaiety of the wedding celebration, pirates attack and Eudora is torn from a passionate grasp of her dying lover, triggering a dramatic shift in the tone of the poem and the emotions displayed by its characters. In the middle of the ocean, the untamed fire of the ship paves way for Eudora's grief-stricken vengeance and her wild emotions:

And her veil flung back, and her free dark hair
Sway'd by the flames as they rock and flare;
And her fragile form to its loftiest height
Dilated, as if by the spirit's might,
And her eye with an eagle-gladness fraught, Oh! could this work be of woman wrought?
Yes! 'twas her deed!-by that haughty smile
It was hers- She hath kindled her funeral pile!
Never might shame on that bright head be,
Her blood was the Greek's, and hath made her free! (lines 205-214)

The scene that Hemans paints is almost maniacal and very powerful, moreso when she goes on to describe Eudora as an Indian bride on her husband's funeral pre. Furthermore, the use of emotions is a technique that works closely with the imagery found in the poem, as Romantics often used nature surroundings to mirror the nature of human beings at any given moment. For example, in the beginning of the poem, the lightness of Eudora's surroundings highlight the potential happiness of her situation (because though she is leaving her family, she is to be wed and begin a new chapter in her life).

Likewise, the same positivity of the wedding ceremony and feast is apparent in the beautiful descriptions of the forest. However, when nature becomes quiet and uneasy "But there came by fits, thro' some wavy tree, a sound and a gleam of the moaning sea"-there is an impending attack (lines 123-124). The darkness of the ocean toward the end of the poem mimics the hopelessness Eudora's mother feels as she scans the horizon for signs of her daughter, and the fire that consumes the trip symbolizes the desperation Eudora feels and the insanity of burning herself alive to exact retribution on her husband's murderers. Overall, Romantic literature (and Romanticism itself is passionate. One will always be able to find certain characteristics within works of this time period that conform to traditional Romanticism: empowering individualism, strong emotions, unrestricted imagery. Felicia Hemans utilizes all of these aspects in "Bride of the Greek Isle" and (though underestimated during her time period due to her gender) provides a near perfect example of the passion that gave rise to Romanticism.