Prometheus
The poem opens with the cry of “Titan!” which is addressed to Prometheus. He was a Titan who, taking pity on humans, stole fire from the Gods of Greek myth. For this transgression he was cruelly sentenced to punishment by Zeus. In the process, Prometheus became the mythic hero most intensely co-opted by the Romantic poets. In addition to Byron’s poem, Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote a verse play titled Prometheus Unbound and the official title of a little book written by Shelley’s wife, Mary, actually Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus. Because Prometheus went up against the tyranny of the Gods to increase the power of the common man, he became a favorite symbol of the sense of rebellion which lies at the heart of the Romantics within which Byron rose to status of iconic representative. Important to understand is that Prometheus does not actually appear as a character. Rather, he is a figure whom the speaker is extolling for his virtues.
Zeus
Like Prometheus, Zeus is never mentioned by name in the poem. That the speaker is extolling Prometheus as his hero is clearly indicated by the poem’s title. Byron does not make things quite so easy in figuring out that Zeus is his villain. Instead, coordinates a series of rhyming metaphors which contain enough context to classify as identification through imagery. The second stanza features four lines which all conclude on a rhyme that speaks to the tyranny of fate as the ruling principle of hate which derives pleasure from the ability to create things which can annihilate. Then to top it off, a reference to made to the Thunderer who stole from Prometheus in return for Prometheus stealing what belonged to Olympus.
The Speaker
The speaker of the poem has conventionally been identified as Byron himself. Byron’s and his close circle of fellow Romantic poets’ deep admiration for Prometheus as a transformative symbol of the spirit of rebellion is well documented and the words which he puts in the mouth of his speaker regarding the Titan recur elsewhere in association with the poet’s writings.
