Reading Journal 1, Week 1

In "Two in Campagna," Rome plays a role that initially appears minor, but because of its architectural significance, sparks in the narrator a sort of metaphorical yearning--a desire to obtain something, but a desire always eluded. In this case Italy is characterized by its nature's tendency to overthrow as well as to blanket the past successes--in this case, to grass over empirical greatness with natural dominance, to emphasize and become "Rome's ghost since her decease."  The speaker appears to grappling with his need to love the "you" in the piece, but ends up turning away--though I am unsure if that is of his own agency or through reminder of a sort of previous denial set by the "you" prior to the piece. I will say that there seems to be some sort of blame placed in the metaphorical image of Italy. The spider web for instance, some phenomenon marking the Italian landscape that the speaker notes for its elusiveness: "I touched a thought, I know, / Has tantalized me many times, / Like turns of thread the spiders throw" (6-8). And again he returns to that spider's thread in the closing stanza: "Where is the thread now? Off again! / The old trick!" (61-62). Thus likening his disdained heart to the Italian countryside, suggesting both a trickery and slipperiness to Italy's brilliance. 

Shelley, on the other hand, seems to take a more heightened approach to his portrayal of Italy. Italy is not unobtainable, but sinful, a place ruled by Sin and Death. It leads the narrator to a state of disgust, as he states that the only way for the Earth to be restored is by wiping it away. I can't help but to wonder how Italians approach Shelley, considering they lumped him into a museum with Keats; his disdain for the Italian community and landscape seems so overwhelming, it confuses me why they would even celebrate him in that fashion.