Lord George Gordon Byron

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Lord George Gordon Byron

• 1788-1824

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Teaser

• Lord George Gordon Byron, was born in London,
  England in 1788 and died in Greece, in 1824.
  George was born with a clubbed foot, which caused
  him to suffer throughout his life. He was a
  cynical romantic poet, who liked to use sarcasm
  to show his doubt of freedom and goodness behind
  human motives. Some of his poetic elements that
  he used were rhyme and metaphors.

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Achievements

• Considered the most notorious of the major
  romantic poets.
• He is regarded as one of the greatest British
  poets and remains widely read and influential,
  both in the English-speaking world and beyond.
• He attended many schools and colleges.
• Had many famous/well known poems including, When
  We Two Parted, Darkness, The Eve of Waterloo and
  There Be None of Beautys Daughters.

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Interesting Facts

• It was alleged he had sex with over 250 women
  over the course of a year while in Venice.
• He fell in love with a man named John Edleston
  while at school.
• He fell ill a few days before he planned to
  attack a Turkish Fortress. He died before he
  could attack the Fortress.
• He was born with a club foot and became extremely
  sensitive about his lameness.

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More Interesting Facts

• Byron was beaten as a child and this may have
  caused some of his crazy ways as an adult.
• He owned a bear, fox, monkeys, parrot, eagle,
  crocodile, falcon, peacock, badger, and his
  favorite his Newfoundland dog named Boatswain.
• He was accused of having sex with animals, but it
  was never proven.
• He changed his name on more than one occasion.
• He had many affairs throughout his entire life.

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Lord Byron

• Due to his crazy life his poetry is a little bit
  overlooked.
• He was somewhat of a sex addict because he would
  have sex with anything he could get his hands on.
• He was a guy who based everything in his life off
  of sex, meaning everything he did was about sex
  or for sex.

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Early Life

• His first loves were for two of his distant
  cousins.
• He changed his name multiple times in order to
  claim his wifes estate, his mother- in- laws
  estate and to become a noble.
• At the age of 10 Lord George Byron inherited the
  title and estates of his great-uncle the wicked
  Lord Byron.
• When he was in Harrow, where his friendships with
  younger boys fostered a romantic attachment to
  the school. This is thought to be what began a
  love of sex for Byron.

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Middle Life

• After a term at Trinity College Byron ended up
  going extremely broke.
• In November of 1806 he got some of his early
  poems privately published with the title Fugitive
  Pieces.
• The next June his first public collection of
  poetry was Hours of Idleness, and it received bad
  reviews.
• Joined the House Of Lords and made his first
  speech in February of 1812.
• He was ionized in the Whig Society being called
  the handsome poet with the club foot.

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Later Life

• In 1815 he decided to marry a girl by the name of
  Annabella Milbank and had a daughter with her,
  named Augusta Ada. In 1816 though, she left him
  because he was abusive toward her and he never
  saw her or his daughter again.
• His wife left him and never came back so Byron
  got separation papers.
• After a long creative period Byron became to feel
  that action was more important than poetry.
• He then sailed to Greece so he could support them
  in their battle.

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His Death

• Lord George Gordon Byron died of a fever on April
  19, 1824.
• This happened while he was in Missolonghi, Greece
  supporting their troops in battle.
• He died before he could see any action in battle.
• Their were memorial services held all over the
  land to celebrate Byrons life.
• Finally Byrons coffin was placed in the family
  vault at Hucknall Torkard.

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Romantic Poetry

• Emphasized intuition over reason. They preferred
  more naturalistic things rather than new and
  contemporary things.
• Many were lengthy narratives called Epic Poems.

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Bryons Poetry

• Byron wrote his poems in the form of cantos.
• The canto was a popular form of division in long
  poems and epics during the romantic period.
• Byrons most favored rhyme scheme was of a basic
  ABAB type.
• He wrote his poems in stanzas of differing
  lengths Anywhere from 4 to 12 line stanzas.

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More About Byrons Poetry

• He wrote a lot, producing many poems over short
  periods of time.
• He wrote his major poems from 1806 to 1823.

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Poetry

• Byrons poetry connected to his life in a major
  way.
• His life was all about sex and his poetry was all
  about sex.
• It is hard to connect his poetry to the time
  period because even though he is considered to be
  part of the Romantic time period, many of his
  poems were more closely linked with Satire.

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Romanticism

• Byron was one of the Big Six figures who
  supposedly formed the core of the Romantic Poetry
  movement. They were
• William Blake
• William Wordsworth
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• Lord Byron
• Percy Bysshe Shelley
• John Keats

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She Walks in Beauty

• She walks in beauty, like the night
• Of cloudless climes and starry skies
• And all thats best of dark and bright
• Meet in her aspect and her eyes
• Thus mellowed to that tender light
• Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
• One shade the more, one ray the less,
• Had half the impaired the nameless grace
• Which waves in every raven tress,
• Or softly lightens oer her face
• Where thoughts serenely sweet express
• How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
• And on that cheek and oer that brow,
• So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
• The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
• But tell of days in goodness spent,
• A mind at peace with all below,
• A heart whose love is innocent!

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She Walks In Beauty

• Written in 1814. It was made into a Jewish Song
  in 1815.
• Written after Byron had seen a lady in a black
  dress in a ball room.
• But it was really referring to his half sister
  Augusta!
• One of Byrons most famous poems.

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She Walks in Beauty Rhyme Scheme, Syllable
Count, and Theme

• Rhyme Scheme ABABABCDCDCD EFEFEF
• Syllable Count Each line had 8 syllables.
• Themes Physical and Inner Beauty Admiration for
  the womans innocence

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She Walks In Beauty

• Words the Matter soft, calm, glow- these words
  symbolize how the woman has a serenity and
  goodness to her that he finds attractive
• Breakdown It is about his love for his cousin.
  The poem is also about how he is trying to
  convince the woman into loving him.
• The poem was received badly, most likely because
  he wrote it about his cousin.

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She Walks in Beauty

• She walks in beauty, like the night
• Of cloudless climes and starry skies
• And all thats best of dark and bright
• Meet in her aspect and her eyes
• Thus mellowed to that tender light
• Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

This stanza explains her beauty. The narrator is
comparing her beauty to the brightness of the
day. It is explaining how her entire outfit and
features, like her hair and eyes can be so dark,
but brightly beautiful at the same time. Despite
her black exterior, her beauty brings new light
to any who look at her.
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• One shade the more, one ray the less,
• Had half the impaired the nameless grace
• Which waves in every raven tress,
• Or softly lightens oer her face
• Where thoughts serenely sweet express
• How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

This is the stanza that explains the light. He
compares the woman's beauty to the sunlight, and
states that the rays of the sun makes her face
glow beautifully. It also states that even though
the sun goes away, her face still glows
beautifully.
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• And on that cheek and oer that brow,
• So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
• The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
• But tell of days in goodness spent,
• A mind at peace with all below,
• A heart whose love is innocent!

This is the volta of the stanza. In these lines,
its says that her outer beauty is the same as her
inner beauty. She is pure and good on the
outside, so she is pure and good on the inside.
Her morals are soft and gentle, while her looks
are the same.
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How is it connected?

• Considering the fact that Lord George Gordon
  Byron doubted freedom and goodness in peoples
  motives, this poem was strikingly different from
  what he normally wrote.
• This poem is about a beautiful woman who is the
  same on the inside. In this poem he is
  contradicting what he typically believed.

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Works Cited