Rotterdam, Holland

Shelley notes that both Rotterdam and the Dutch in general are remarkably clean and tidy, but she is unimpressed by a Dutchman that speaks very poor English. Shelley seems to find Holland a troublesome place, its canals and windmills causing difficulty when travelling.

Laufenburg, Switzerland

Shelley and company charter a small boat which Shelley refers to as a "canoe," due to its shoddy construction. The river here is swift and treacherous, and Shelley finds herself afraid the little boat will not make it. Despite the trouble, they make it safely to Mumph.

Stone Tower in Hermance

"We left Montalegre at half past two on the 23d of June. The lake was calm, and after three hours of rowing we arrived at Hermance, a beautiful little village, containing a ruined tower, built, the villagers say, by Julius Cæsar. There were three other towers similar to it, which the Genevese destroyed for their own fortifications in 1560. We got into the tower by a kind of window. The walls are immensely solid, and the stone of which it is built so hard, that it yet retained the mark of chisels."

 

Jura Mountains

"We now inhabit a little cottage on the opposite shore of the lake, and have exchanged the view of Mont Blanc and her snowy aiguilles for the dark frowning Jura, behind whose range we every evening see the sun sink, and darkness approaches our valley from behind the Alps, which are then tinged by that glowing rose-like hue which is observed in England to attend on the clouds of an autumnal sky when day-light is almost gone"

 

Rhine River

On their way back to England, the group charters passage on various boats traveling the Rhine. The river has long been used as a political boundary (since Roman times) and as a means of moving goods inland (as it stretches from the Netherlands and all the way into switzerland). The Rhine is the second longest river in Europe after the Danube. From the time the Shelleys leave Switzerland, all the mentioned cities are located on this waterway. The earlier parts of the river are more difficult to navigate due to sharp turns and varied depths of the river bed.

Lake Lucerne

The Shelleys spent their evenings/days on the lake and enjoying sailing. While Lake Lucerne can be circumnavigated by land, its placement within a deep valley makes that difficult as much of its shoreline is steep.

Mary Shelley wrote, "A furious vent d'Italie (south wind) tore up the lake, making immense waves, and carrying the water in a whirlwind high in the air, when it fell like heavy rain into the lake. The waves broke with a tremendous noise on the rocky shores."

Age of Romanticism - Collaborative Map - Fall 2021

Submitted by Amy Gates on

ENT 272 LogoThis map is part of the ENG 272 collaborative "Age of Romanticism" Map, one element of the Image, Event, Place Project. Add one map element that is related or relevant in some way to the work we have been reading in the first several weeks of class. Provide sufficient detail to explain the historical or cultural detail and, perhaps, how it relates to one or more literary works we have read.

Age of Romanticism - Collaborative Timeline - Fall 2021

Submitted by Amy Gates on

ENT 272 LogoThis timeline is part of the ENG 272 collaborative "Age of Romanticism" Timeline, one element of the Image, Event, Place Project. Add one timeline element that is related or relevant in some way to the work we have been reading in the first several weeks of class. Provide sufficient detail to explain the historical or cultural detail and, perhaps, how it relates to one or more literary works we have read.

Nogent

Nogent is just one of multiple villages that is described as destroyed or damaged in some form. In "History of a Six Weeks' Tour" they attribute the damage to the Cossacs, perhaps in retribution for the distruction of some Moscow villages. It seems to have happened in such a recurring manner that the French don't bother to fix things up, for fear it will make another target. I wonder how the desolation might have inspired some of the language and destitution in Frankenstein.

 

Pages

Subscribe to COVE RSS