Small St. Helena Petrel (Bulweria bifax)

‘[T]his world is now thy pilgrimage’: William Michael Rossetti's Cognitive Maps of France and Italy

Victoriographies ◽

10.3366/vic.2018.0296 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 84-99

Author(s):

Eleonora Sasso

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

Venice Lagoon ◽

Cognitive Map ◽

Reference Points ◽

Late Nineteenth Century ◽

Mental Picture ◽

Historical Figures ◽

Starting Point ◽

Cognitive Semantic ◽

St Helena

This paper takes as its starting point the conceptual metaphor ‘life is a journey’ as defined by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) in order to advance a new reading of William Michael Rossetti's Democratic Sonnets (1907). These political verses may be defined as cognitive-semantic poems, which attest to the centrality of travel in the creation of literary and artistic meaning. Rossetti's Democratic Sonnets is not only a political manifesto against tyranny and oppression, promoting the struggle for liberalism and democracy as embodied by historical figures such as Napoleon, Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi; but it also reproduces Rossetti's real and imagined journeys throughout Europe in the late nineteenth century. This essay examines these references in light of the issues they raise, especially the poet as a traveller and the journey metaphor in poetry. But its central purpose is to re-read Democratic Sonnets as a cognitive map of Rossetti's mental picture of France and Italy. A cognitive map, first theorised by Edward Tolman in the 1940s, is a very personal representation of the environment that we all experience, serving to navigate unfamiliar territory, give direction, and recall information. In terms of cognitive linguistics, Rossetti is a figure whose path is determined by French and Italian landmarks (Paris, the island of St. Helena, the Alps, the Venice Lagoon, Mount Vesuvius, and so forth), which function as reference points for orientation and are tied to the historical events of the Italian Risorgimento. Through his sonnets, Rossetti attempts to build into his work the kind of poetic revolution and sense of history which may only be achieved through encounters with other cultures.

Download Full-text

St. Helena Hoopoe (Upupa antaios)

10.2173/bow.sthhoo1.01 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

St Helena

Download Full-text

Liberated African Settlers on St. Helena

Liberated Africans and the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1807-1896 ◽

10.1017/9781787446557.016 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 313-322

Author(s):

Andrew Pearson

Keyword(s):

St Helena

Download Full-text

Sharing the waterways: Shark-proof swimming, penal detention and the early history of St Helena Island, Moreton Bay

Queensland Review ◽

10.1017/qre.2020.11 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 27 (2) ◽

pp. 121-136

Author(s):

Cathy Keys

Keyword(s):

Early History ◽

Historical Records ◽

Moreton Bay ◽

Quarantine Station ◽

History Of ◽

St Helena ◽

Colonial Settlement

AbstractThis research examines the role that fear of sharks has played in the history of St Helena Island Moreton Bay, Queensland through analysis of historical records, newspapers, photographs and literature. The article begins with Aboriginal histories of St Helena Island, colonial settlement of the region and the building of a quarantine station. An exploration of the ways in which settlers’ fear of sharks supported the detention of prisoners in the St Helena Island Penal Establishment follows. The research finds that the warders’ shark-proof swimming enclosure on St Helena Island (1916) records a time when Queensland communities were first seeking to manage the recreational demands of swimmers in the context of a growing public fear of sharks.

Download Full-text