The Vision of Judgment,the vision of judgement by Byron, The Vision of Judgment summary

Byron's The Vision of Judgment :

Byron's The Vision of Judgment(1822) is a parody of Robert Southey's (1774- 1843) original poem, A Vision of Judgment (1821). (Notice the difference in the two titles.) Southey's was meant to be a panegyric to George III of England who died in 1820. Byron's is a satire both on Southey and the King. In Southey's poem, the poet in a trance sees George III rise from his tomb and reach the gates of Heaven where the Devil and Wilkes the democat leader come to charge him with crimes he committed on earth. However, they retire in discomfiture when Washington eulogises him and he is greeted by the previous English monarchs, the eminent English and finally his own family. 

In the preface to his poem Southey made a direct attack on Byron's works and referred to him as the leader of the 'satanic school' of poetry. In response Byron wrote the parody in which Southey is swept up by one of the devils from the Lake District where he offers to write Satan's biography and on being declined the favour, Michael's. when he attempts to read his own "Vision' Saint Peter, Upraised his keys, And at the fifth line knock'd the poet down; Southey fell into the lake but there he did not drown, 'He first sank to the bottom -like his works, But soon rose to the surface -like himself; For all corrupted things are buoy'd, like corks, By their own rottenness, light as an elf, Or wisp that flits O'er a morass; This is trenchant satire and Southey had provoked Byron to deserve it. The extracts that you are going to read are mainly satire an George IIII. In it, however, Byron praises George's domestic virtues. His family life was free from the characteristic vice of his predecessors. However he wanted to re-establish his personal rule prevalent during the reigns of the later stuarts. He opposed Catholic emancipation, the American War of Independence and the French Revolution. He suffered from recurring fits of insanity and finally became insane in 1811. His eldest son was appointed regent until his father's death in 1820. If you now read the satire you will be able to appreciate the darts that Byron shoots at George.