Lord Byron:“Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.”

Born George Gordon Byron in London, England in 1788

Descendent of King James I

When Byron was 10 years old, his uncle died, giving him the title of “Baron” (a rank in British nobility) and entitling him to a large estate

First published poems were written when he was only 14 years old, but were recalled and burned due to their “amorous” nature

Early Life

Personal Life

His mother said of him, “He has no indisposition that I know of but love, desperate love, the worst of all maladies in my opinion.”

Carried on numerous affairs with married women, fathering at least one illegitimate child

Accumulated substantial amount of debt in order to carry on his “lavish” lifestyle

Considered to be one of the first “modern-style” celebrities, constantly followed by the press and appearing in gossip columns

Byronic HeroLiterary term the “Byronic Hero” refers to a character that pervades much of Byron’s work. Much like the poet himself, this character has “great talent, great passion, a distaste for society and social institutions, a lack of respect for rank and privilege (although they possess both), being thwarted in love by social constraint or death, rebellion, exile, an unsavory secret past, arrogance, overconfidence or lack of foresight, and, ultimately, a self-destructive manner.

Examples: Severus Snape, from the Harry Potter series

Dr. House, from the T.V. series House

Batman, from the comic series Batman

Romantic Poetry

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. 1818

Industrial Revolution

Late 18th century movement toward the mechanization of industry in Western countries

Characterized by the move (both ideologically and population-wise) from the country to the city

Strong emphasis on reason and science

Coincided with many revolutions taking place in various countries (for example, France and America)

Romanticism

Artistic, literary, and ideological movement against the Industrial Revolution

Stressed imagination over reason, natural over artifice

Romantic poets preferred personal, simple, emotional poems over formal, witty poems of the past

Poems were more private, spontaneous, and lyrical

Often turned to an inner dream world as a reaction against the ugliness of the Industrial Revolution

When We Two Parted by Lord Byron

WHEN we two parted    In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted    To sever for years,  Pale grew thy cheek and cold,            Colder thy kiss;  Truly that hour foretold   Sorrow to this.   The dew of the morning   Sunk chill on my brow—  It felt like the warning   Of what I feel now.  Thy vows are all broken,   And light is thy fame: I hear thy name spoken,    And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,    A knell to mine ear;  

A shudder comes o'er me—    Why wert thou so dear?

  They know not I knew thee,  Who knew thee too well:

 Long, long shall I rue thee,    Too deeply to tell.  

 In secret we met—     In silence I grieve,  

That thy heart could forget,  Thy spirit deceive.  

If I should meet thee  

  After long years,   How should I greet thee?

   With silence and tears.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36EJAeJ2vG4

Group Discussion Questions

1. How is this poem representative of Romantic poetry?

2. How does Byron use the notion of morning in the second stanza differently than other poets?

3. What do you think the “shame” at the end of the second stanza refers to?

4. Why did Byron write this poem?

5. Do you think this poem, or poems like this, are relevant today?

Foreshadowing: Frankenstein

Percy Bysshe Shelley, husband of Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein), was one of the preeminent poets of the British Romantic Poetry movement, along with Lord Byron.

In Romanticism, there was also a move toward supernatural, medieval horror stories, again as a reaction to the bleak rationalism of the Industrial Revolution.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein originated as an oral story told by the author while she and her husband spent a weekend at Lord Byron’s villa in Switzerland.

During that trip, Percy Blysshe Shelley wrote:

“Lord Byron gets up at two. I get up, quite contrary to my usual custom . . . at 12. After breakfast we sit talking till six. From six to eight we gallop through the pine forest which divide Ravenna from the sea; we then come home and dine, and sit up gossiping till six in the morning. I don't suppose this will kill me in a week or fortnight, but I shall not try it longer. Lord B.'s establishment consists, besides servants, of ten horses, eight enormous dogs, three monkeys, five cats, an eagle, a crow, and a falcon; and all these, except the horses, walk about the house, which every now and then resounds with their unarbitrated quarrels, as if they were the masters of it. . . . [P.S.] I find that my enumeration of the animals in this Circean Palace was defective . . . . I have just met on the grand staircase five peacocks, two guinea hens, and an Egyptian crane.”