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''Madoc'' is an 1805 epic poem composed by Robert Southey. It is based on the legend of Madoc, a supposed Welsh prince who fled internecine conflict and sailed to America in the 12th century. The origins of the poem can be traced to Southey's schoolboy days when he completed a prose version of Madoc's story. By the time Southey was in his twenties, he began to devote himself to working on the poem in hopes that he could sell it to raise money to fulfill his ambitions to start a new life in America, where he hoped to found Utopian commune or "Pantisocracy". Southey finally completed the poem as a whole in 1799, at the age of 25. However, he began to devote his efforts into extensively editing the work, and ''Madoc'' was not ready for publication until 1805. It was finally published in two volumes by the London publisher Longman with extensive footnotes. The first half of the poem, ''Madoc in Wales'', describes Madoc, a young Welsh nobleman, whose family breaks down into a series of bloody disputes over royal succession. Madoc, unwilling to participate in the struggle, decides to journey to America to start a new life. When he reaches America, he is witness to the bloody human sacrifices that the Aztec nation demands of the surrounding tribes in Aztlan. Madoc, believing it is a defiance against God, leads the Hoamen, a local tribe, into warfare against the Aztecs. Eventually, Madoc conquers them and he is able to convert the Americans to Christianity before returning to Wales to find more recruits for his colony. In the second part, ''Madoc in Aztlan'', Madoc returns to find that the Aztecs have returned to their human sacrifices. After long and bloody warfare, Madoc is able to defeat the Aztecs and force them out of their homeland and into exile. The poem contains Southey's bias against superstition, whether Catholic, Protestant, or pagan. He believed that the work itself was more historical than epic, and it contained many of Southey's political views. Critics gave the work mixed reviews, with many saying that there were beautiful scenes, but many feeling that the language fell short of being adequate for the subject matter. One review went so far to mock Southey's reliance on Welsh and Aztec names. ==Background== The basis for Southey wishing to write an epic poem came from his private reading of literature while attending Westminster School as a boy.〔Spech 2006 p. 17〕 In particular, the subject was suggested by a school friend that claimed to be a descendant of Madoc's brother, Rhodri, and Southey began to write a prose version of the story in 1789.〔Bernhardt-Kabisch 1977 p. 109〕 In 1794, the 20-year-old Southey was attempting to publish works to raise money to support himself and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in an expedition to America to establish a Pantisocracy, a democratic form of government that the two invented. One of the poems he sought to publish was ''Madoc'', which was an epic that he started working on while at school but he never finished. Southey and Coleridge were able to complete the poem ''Joan of Arc'' by summer 1795 while Southey worked on ''Madoc''.〔Spech 2006 pp. 53, 57〕 However, in his notebook he claimed on 22 February 1797. "This morning I began the study of law, this evening I began Madoc."〔Bernhardt-Kabisch 1977 qtd. p. 52〕 During 1797, Southey had given up his ideas of Pantisocracy and was studying to become a lawyer. He spent the rest of his time working on other publications, such as a translating part of Jacques Necker's ''On the French Revolution''. Southey continued to work on ''Madoc'' through 1798, and started his mornings by working on the poem.〔Spech 2006 pp. 66, 74〕 It was not until mid-1799 that Southey was able to finish composing ''Madoc'', and soon after began to work on ''Thalaba''. Afterwards he travelled to Portugal, where he continued to work on ''Madoc'' for two more years to polish up the language. After Portugal went to war with France and Spain, Southey returned to England. While there, he travelled to Wales to get more information for his epic. He continued to travel in 1801, and worked on the epic during this time. In May 1804, Southey took the beginning of the poem to the publisher Longman, and he began to finish the second section in October. It was finished and published in two parts early in 1805, with footnotes and a preface explaining Southey's purpose.〔Spech 2006 pp. 79, 84, 87–88, 107–108, 111〕 The work cost a lot of money to publish, which prompted Southey to write "By its high price, one half the edition is condemned to be furniture in expensive libraries, and the other to collect cobwebs in the publisher's warehouses. I foresee that I shall get no solid pudding by it".〔Madden 1972 qtd p. 99〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Madoc (poem)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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