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George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788-1824

George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788-1824. Biography, 1. Descended from 2 aristocratic families – both colorful and a bit dissolute Father dies when Byron is 3; raised by Scottish mother in Aberdeen; taught a right wing Calvinist Presbyterianism (all fun = sin)

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George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788-1824

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  1. George Gordon, Lord Byron 1788-1824

  2. Biography, 1 • Descended from 2 aristocratic families – both colorful and a bit dissolute • Father dies when Byron is 3; raised by Scottish mother in Aberdeen; taught a right wing Calvinist Presbyterianism (all fun = sin) • Inherits title from great uncle at 10 years old • Typical upper class education at Harrow and Cambridge

  3. Biography, 2 • Congenitally lame, made worse by botched surgery; overcomes through athletic prowess • Published first vol of poetry in 1807 (19 years old); badly received by Edinburgh Review • 1809-12, tours Portugal, Spain, Malta, Greece, Asia Minor; discovers cultures much more sexually liberated than the Protestant Britains; rumored to have had boy lovers • 1812 – published first part of Childe Harold; instant bestseller

  4. Biography, 3 • Sits in House of Lords as a Whig (liberal) • Invents literary “Byronic hero”: outsider; makes his own code; adventurous; a tad misanthropic – public believes all this is true of him • Series of sexual liasons with aristocratic women • Brief marriage to AnnabellaMillbanke ends with one daughter and a legal separation • Incestuous affair with half sister Augusta Leigh (they did not know one another before the affair) • Socially ostracized, leaves England 1816

  5. Biography, 4 • Lives in Geneva with Percy and Mary Shelley, and Mary’s step sister Claire Clairmont (17 years old!) • Claire and Byron have a daughter Allegra • 1817 – completely promiscuous in Venice • Enormously productive poetically – finishes Childe Harold, Manfred, Beppo, and begins Don Juan • 1818 – rejoins the Shelleys in Pisa; writes • 1823 – fights for Greek independence from Ottoman Empire (just like the Crusades, 800 years later – still “rescuing” Christian Europe from supposed “infidels.” Dies in Greece and becomes a national hero there.

  6. Lady Caroline Lamb Annabella, Lady Byron Augusta Leigh Countessa Teresa Guiccioli Claire Clairemont

  7. When We Two Parted Pages 613-4 in your text Note: short line form, ababcdcd, (A & C lines longer; B & D lines shorter) Contrast version in text with this one < http://dsteinbe.intrasun.tcnj.edu/Courses/Romant/When%20we%20two%20parted.htm> What do you think of the extra stanza?

  8. Childe Harold Oh, thou! in Hellas deem’d of heav’nlybirth, a Muse, form’d or fabled at the minstrel's will! b Since sham’dfull oft by later lyres on earth, a Mine dares not call thee from thy sacred hill: b Yet there I've wander’dby thy vaunted rill; b Yes! sighed o'er Delphi's long-deserted shrine c Where, save that feeble fountain, all is still; b Nor mote my shell awake the weary Nine cTo grace so plain a tale--this lowly lay of mine. c

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