Lord (George Gordon) Byron

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Lord (George Gordon) Byron 1788-1824
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• The most notorious Romantic poet. Byron was
  famous in his lifetime for his love affairs with
  women (and some men, too!).
• He created the concept of the 'Byronic hero' - a
  defiant, melancholy young man, brooding on some
  mysterious, unforgivable event in his past.
• Byron's influence on European poetry, music,
  novel, opera, and painting has been immense,
  although the poet was widely condemned on moral
  grounds by his contemporaries.

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• He was born with a club-foot and became extremely
  sensitive about it. His life did not become
  easier when he received painful treatments for
  his foot by a quack practitioner. Eventually he
  got a corrective boot.
• At home Byron's alcoholic governess made sexual
  advances when he was nine. According to some
  sources, Byron was also seduced by the lord who
  rented his mansion before he inherited it.

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His father died in 1791, and he inherited the
title and property of his great-uncle in 1798.
Byron went on to boarding school where he
excelled in swimming, and Cambridge, where he
piled up debts and aroused alarm with bisexual
love affairs.
The home he inherited
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In his works, short and stout Byron glorified
proud heroes who overcome hardships. Many think
he saw his own physical challenges as an
inspiration The poet himself was 5 feet 8
inches tall and his widely varying weight ranged
from 135 to 205 pounds - he once said that
everything he swallowed was instantly converted
to tallow and deposited on his ribs.
One of his friends noted that at the age of about
30 he looked 40 and "the knuckles of his hands
were lost in fat."
Body Image
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In 1802, he probably first met his half-sister,
Augusta Leigh (whom it is believed he later
fathered a child with) At the age of fifteen he
fell in love with Mary Chaworth, his distant
cousin...
Byron in 1802
Half-sister Augusta Leigh
Mary Chaworth
Family Love!
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The next year he set out on his grand tour,
visiting Spain, Albania, Greece, and the Aegean.
In Malta, where he stayed for a brief period, he
received treatments for gonorrhea.
Please practice safe sexand dont get with
your Half-sister. Trust me.
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Success came in 1812 when Byron published the
first two cantos of CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE
(1812-1818). He became an adored character of
London society and had a hectic love-affair with
socialite Lady Caroline Lamb.
I awoke one morning and found myself famous!
Hes Mad Bad and dangerous to know
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More lovin for Byron
Augusta Leigh
While staying in Venice, Byron bragged about
having 200 different women on consecutive
evenings!
Babies!
Annabella Milbanke
Countess Guiccioli
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Rebellion and Death

• After Byron started to support the Italian
  insurrectionist movement against Austrian rule,
  the Austrian secret police started to follow his
  movements.
• Byron sailed to Greece to aid the Greeks, who had
  risen against their Ottoman overlords. However,
  before Byron saw any serious military action, he
  contracted the fever from which he died on 19
  April 1824. Before his death his condition was
  worsened by a leeching procedure.

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Even after death, everyone still wants him
The Greeks wished to bury him in Athens, but only
his heart stayed in the country. Part of his
skull and his internal organs had been removed
for souvenirs. Finally Byron's coffin was placed
in the family vault at Abbey in Nottinghamshire.
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SO WE'LL GO NO MORE A ROVING So we'll go no
more a rovingso late into the nightThough the
heart be still as lovingAnd the moon be still as
bright. For the sword outwears the sheath,And
the soul wears out the breast,And the heart must
pause to breathe,And Love itself have
rest. Though the night was made for loving,And
the day returns too soon,Yet we'll go no more a
rovingBy the light of the moon.
She Walks in Beauty
Darkness
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The Byronic Hero
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An idealized but flawed character whose
attributes may include having conflicting
emotions, bipolar tendencies, or moodiness
self-critical and introspective struggles with
integrity having a distaste for social
institutions and social norms being an exile,
an outcast, an outlaw, or just a loner a lack
of respect for rank and privilege having a
troubled past being cynical, demanding, and/or
arrogant often self-destructive troubles
with sexual identity
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