LORD BYRON

Presentation by Brandon Molland

Biography

List Of Works

Sample Poems

Inspired Poems

Original Poems

Bibliography

The Byronic Hero Himself!

By: Brandon Molland

“Mad- bad- and dangerous to know”

This was said by one of Lord Byron’s affair, Lady Caroline Lamb (“George Gordon” 1). Lamb describes Byron as being a ‘dangerous’ man based on his love affairs with many different women, and also by his charming capabilities. Lord Byron, George Gordon Noel Byron, was born January 22, 1788 in London, England. He was born with clubfoot, a deformity of the foot, and was very sensitive of his deficiency. Growing up, Byron had a rough childhood; his father had left him and his mother for Aberdeen, Scotland, where they never saw him again. Byron’s mother hired a quack doctor to help Byron’s foot, who only made matters worse when he tortured Byron with his cruel medical techniques. Byron was later on acquired proper medical attention for his foot and was then properly schooled (“The Life of Lord Byron” 1).

Lord Byron gained influence from the famous poet, Alexander Pope, who also suffered from physical deformities and complications like Byron himself (“Lord Byron” 1). The first woman Byron fell in love with was Mary Duff, who was a distant cousin of his, and she has inspired Byron to write love poetry (“The Life of Lord Byron” 1). Throughout Byron’s life, he has had many affairs with different women, including Lady Caroline Lamb, Lady Oxford, Lady Francis Webster, and even some rumors say Byron had a love affair with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh. Most of Byron’s famous works were of his many feelings of love, and of also guilt

BIOGRAPHY

Biography

List Of Works

Sample Poems

Inspired Poems

Original Poems

Bibliography

he felt for his many affairs and his illegitimate children (“The Life of Lord Byron” 2). When Byron was on tour around Europe, he came across the lands of Greece and was instantly in love with it. Greece made such an impression on himself that he joined Greece in their fight for independence against the Turks and later gave his life for Greece. Due to cold rainy weather during the fight, Byron had caught a serous cold, and it turned into a nasty fever. Byron suffered from many

bloodletting treatments which only made the fever dramatically worse. Byron had fallen into a deep coma, and the next day he died on April 19, 1824 in Missolonghi, Greece (“The Life of Lord Byron” 4).

Lord Byron’s works are said to be Romanticism, but it is blended with both Neoclassicism and Romanticism. He had a different way of describing things with a symbolic meaning. His many major themes in his poetry this included love, adventure and the so-called ‘Byronic hero’ (“The Poetry of Lord Byron and the Nature of Genre” 1). The Byronic hero was taken after Lord Byron’s personality, which was a young man who has strong regret from his past actions (“Lord Byron” 1). Byron has influenced many artists and writers of the time, including Franz Liszt, Hector Berlioz and Giuseppe Verdi. Even in our modern time, Byron

BIOGRAPHY (CONT)

Biography

List Of Works

Sample Poems

Inspired Poems

Original Poems

Bibliography

comes about in different movies, books, songs, plays and even art. Of the books, shows, and plays, Byron is found being the ‘Byronic hero’ in most all of them (“Lord Byron” 1). Byron’s many struggles and affairs had led himself into dread and exile throughout his life. He was a man of action, a man willing to give his life for what he believed in. With the struggles life had faced him; it had not crushed his poetic spirit

BIOGRAPHY (CONT)

Biography

List Of Works

Sample Poems

Inspired Poems

Original Poems

Bibliography

▪”The First Kiss of Love” (1806)

▪”Thoughts Suggested by a College Examination” (1806)

▪”To a Beautiful Quaker” (1807)

▪”The Cornelian” (1807)

▪”Lines Addressed to a Young Lady” (1807)

▪”Lachin y Garr” (1807)

▪”Epitaph to a Dog” (1808)

▪”Maid of Athens, ere we part” (1810)

▪”She Walks in Beauty” (1814)

▪”My Soul is Dark” (1815)

▪”When We Two Parted” (1817)

▪”Love's Last Adieu So, we'll go no more a roving” (1830)

LIST OF WORKS

▪”Hours of Idleness” (1807)

▪”English Bards and Scotch Reviewers” (1809)

▪”Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Cantos I & II” (1812)

▪”The Giaour” (1813)

▪”The Bride of Abydos” (1813)

▪”The Corsair” (1814)

▪”Lara, A Tale” (1814)

▪”Hebrew Melodies” (1815)

▪”The Siege of Corinth” (1816)

▪”Parisina” (1816)

▪”The Prisoner of Chillon” (1816)

▪”The Dream” (1816)

▪”Prometheus” (1816)

▪”Darkness” (1816)

For more selected works click here.

Biography

List Of Works

Sample Poems

Inspired Poems

Original Poems

Bibliography

SAMPLE POEMS

Analysis Poem

Introduction Poems

Analysis

INTRODUCTION POEMS

“Darkness” by: Lord Byron

“My Soul is Dark” by: Lord Byron

INSPIRED POEMS

“She Walks in Beauty” by: Lord Byron

“When We Two Parted” by: Lord Byron

“THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB”by: Lord Byron 

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold; And the sheen of their

spears was like stars on the sea, When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.  

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green, That host with their banners at sunset were seen: Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay

withered and strown.   For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And

breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once

heaved, and for ever grew still!   And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, But through it

there rolled not the breath of his pride; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-

beating surf.    And there lay the rider distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail: And the tents were all silent, the

banners alone, The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.    And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail, And the idols are

broke in the temple of Baal; And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,Hath melted like snow in the glance of the

Lord!

ANALYSIS POEM

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In “The Destruction of Sennacherib”, Lord Byron refers to the story of the great Assyrian Empire in the Old Testament of the Bible; Byron discusses how God’s forces wiped out the Assyrian Empire, with the Angel of Death. This is a story from the book of “2 Kings” in the Bible, chapter 19:32-37. “2 Kings” states, 32 “Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: “‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. 33 By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the LORD. 34 I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’” 35 That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. 37 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king” (New International Version). The scripture states that the Assyrian’s were wiped out because of the wrath of God. In Byron’s poem, it states, “For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, /And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; /And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, /And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!” In this passage it states how the Angel of Death took the lives away from the Assyrians with just a breath, and also how calm it was. Byron rhymes the last word for every two lines, and also shows some rhythm by using about 11-12 syllables in each line of the poem. Byron uses these devices throughout the poem to make the story more visual, shortened up, and also to show the wrath God has on man. Even the fate of the strong Assyrian Empire, consisting of over one hundred thousand men, was defeated in one night by God, and Byron can relate this by the many wrongdoings he has had against God’s word and now can feel some of Gods wrath upon himself.

ANALYSIS

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The poem “Darkness” by Lord Byron tells about one of Byron’s dreams, which wasn’t all just a dream for him. He describes the world as if it had no sun; all was darkness, and chaos forming because of this. Byron talks about many animals dying, wars coming about, burning of homes, and he sums up the end of all life on earth. He said, “Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless--/A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay. /The rivers, lakes, and oceans all stood still.” This line stuck out at me, and all of the life from the world was gone, even the nonliving things were pronounced ‘dead’.

INTRODUCTION POEMS

(cont)

“Darkness” by: Lord Byron

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the starsDid wander darkling in the eternal space,Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earthSwung blind and blackening in the moonless air;Morn came and went--and came, and brought no day,And men forgot their passions in the dreadOf this their desolation; and all heartsWere chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:And they did live by watchfires--and the thrones,The palaces of crowned kings--the huts,The habitations of all things which dwell,

Biography

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Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum'd,And men were gather'd round their blazing homesTo look once more into each other's face;Happy were those who dwelt within the eyeOf the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;Forests were set on fire--but hour by hourThey fell and faded--and the crackling trunksExtinguish'd with a crash--and all was black.The brows of men by the despairing lightWore an unearthly aspect, as by fitsThe flashes fell upon them; some lay downAnd hid their eyes and wept; and some did restTheir chins upon their clenched hands, and smil'd;And others hurried to and fro, and fedTheir funeral piles with fuel, and look'd upWith mad disquietude on the dull sky,The pall of a past world; and then againWith curses cast them down upon the dust,And gnash'd their teeth and howl'd: the wild birds shriek'dAnd, terrified, did flutter on the ground,

INTRODUCTION POEMS

(cont)

Biography

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And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes

Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawl'd

And twin'd themselves among the multitude,

Hissing, but stingless--they were slain for food.

And War, which for a moment was no more,

Did glut himself again: a meal was bought

With blood, and each sate sullenly apart

Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;

All earth was but one thought--and that was death

Immediate and inglorious; and the pang

Of famine fed upon all entrails--men

Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;

The meagre by the meagre were devour'd,

Even dogs assail'd their masters, all save one,

And he was faithful to a corse, and kept

The birds and beasts and famish'd men at bay,

Till hunger clung them, or the dropping dead

Lur'd their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,

But with a piteous and perpetual moan,

And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand

Which answer'd not with a caress--he died.

INTRODUCTION POEMS

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The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two

Of an enormous city did survive,

And they were enemies: they met beside

The dying embers of an altar-place

Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things

For an unholy usage; they rak'd up,

And shivering scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands

The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath

Blew for a little life, and made a flame

Which was a mockery; then they lifted up

Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld

Each other's aspects--saw, and shriek'd, and died--

Even of their mutual hideousness they died,

Unknowing who he was upon whose brow

Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,

The populous and the powerful was a lump,

Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless--

A lump of death--a chaos of hard clay.

The rivers, lakes and ocean all stood still,

And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths;

INTRODUCTION POEMS

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Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,

And their masts fell down piecemeal: as they dropp'd

They slept on the abyss without a surge--

The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,

The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;

The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,

And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need

Of aid from them--She was the Universe.

INTRODUCTION POEMS

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Lord Byron’s “My Soul is Dark” explains a darkness that has overcome his heart. Byron refers to a harp being strung, and then playing the harp to mourn about this darkness. “If in these eyes there lurk a tear, / ‘Twill follow, and cease to burn my brain.” This line stuck out, and states if he cries about this, its only going to make him fell worse about it, and will have a ‘burning’ in his head. The second paragraph he says he must weep, because otherwise his heart will explode from so much sorrow.

INTRODUCTION POEMS

My soul is dark - Oh! quickly stringThe harp I yet can brook to hear;And let thy gentle fingers flingIts melting murmurs o'er mine ear.If in this heart a hope be dear,That sound shall charm it forth again:If in these eyes there lurk a tear,'Twill flow, and cease to burn my

brain.

“My Soul is Dark” by: Lord Byron

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But bid the strain be wild and deep,

Nor let thy notes of joy be first:

I tell thee, minstrel, I must weep,

Or else this heavy heart will burst;

For it hath been by sorrow nursed,

And ached in sleepless silence, long;

And now 'tis doomed to know the worst,

And break at once - or yield to song.

INTRODUCTION POEMS

Biography

List Of Works

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Inspired Poems

Original Poems

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“She Walks in Beauty” by: Lord Byron

She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

And all that's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:

Thus mellow'd to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

 

One shade the more, one ray the less,

Had half impair'd the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven tress,

Or softly lightens o'er her face;

Where thoughts serenely sweet express

How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

 

And on that cheek, and o'er 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!

INSPIRED POEMS

“Farming” by: Brandon Molland

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“Farming” by: Brandon Molland

Fields awaken by morning light,

Eroding empty cans of beer

As laughter ended in the night;

Hounds receive their food and they sneer

As cautious eyes form in delight

With thoughts of drought passing in fear.

 

Grain bins swallowing air with dust

As beads of sweat form on his brow.

Children playing and becoming unjust.

Barn doors squeak, as kittens meow,

Abandoned cars await the rust

Like countless times of milking cows.

 

Many times the roosters have fought

While the sun is about to set.

With all of the fireflies caught,

As the farmhouse fears its debt.

Among the loving family he brought

The farmer is feeling some regret.

INSPIRED POEMS

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“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.

INSPIRED POEMS

“Vengeance” by: Brandon MollandBiograp

hy

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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:

Lond, long shall I rue thee,

Too deeply to tell.

 

I secret we met--

I 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.

INSPIRED POEMS

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“Vengeance” by: Brandon Molland

When we two parted

I sought vengeance,

Taking what belonged to me

Feeling no delight.

 

Many years passing,

The feeling lurks.

I have become torn rags

Upon your cursed breath.

 

With lust brings no joy

With vengeance brings no pride

 

We will never meet again

For it brings only sorrow

May curses be brought unto thyself!

With silence and tears.

INSPIRED POEMS

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“Verbal Assassin” by: Brandon Molland

Losses of limbs, blood and gore

Immortal men rode ashore.

Although in the heart of war,

Men fighting, as if a chore.

 

Immersed in a deep vapor,

A boy calls out with pen and paper.

 

Seeking out men with forewarning

Explaining their families mourning’s.

 

“’Tis but a glorious morning!

But please except this warning.

Mothers accustomed with mourning

Never find life to be adorning!”

 

All along the barren city,

The men listened to his ditty.

A boy’s courage seemed so witty

And made powerful men feel pity.

ORIGINAL POEMS

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ORIGINAL POEMS

“Verbal Assassin” by: Brandon Molland

“The Gold Calf” by: Brandon Molland

“The Gold Calf” by: Brandon Molland

 

Your idiotic hands take gold,

And make a sacrificial mold

Unto your selfish being?

Ignore thy conscience disagreeing.

 

I shall set my sons ablaze

Within this unholy praise!

Glorify such material gods,

Ye struck by satanic rods.

 

Tablets in hand, cascade the mountain,

Seek those high upon the fountain,

And they will have a glorious feast

Within them holds a sinful beast.

ORIGINAL POEMS

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Stricken the stone upon the ground,

The Prophet Moses angered by the sound

Of Aaron’s loss of control

Upon the worship of the Levites’ souls.

 

“All who believe upon thy Lord

Gather, come and join the hoard!

Of those who want to be restored

Of thy sin, must fight a war.

 

“Slaughter thy brother and thy son!”

And thus the war had begun.

With 3,000 men dead that day

Moses softly began to pray.

 

The son of man has stricken sin

Upon thy vicious diseased skin

Because of their faith remained vague

Hundreds of people suffered the plague.

 

ORIGINAL POEMS

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Pictures:

http://www.s9.com/images/portraits/4606_Byron-George-Gordon-Lord.jpg

http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images/ancient-assyrians/images/ancient-assyrians-5.jpg

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/files/36670/Moon.png

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/4700/4709/harp_1_lg.gif

http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/gogh/starry-night/gogh.starry-night.jpg

http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/sumos/sumos0707/sumos070700061/1194990-a-rusty-old-car-sitting-on-the-ground-on-a-farm-in-iceland.jpg

http://www.wallpapergate.com/data/media/1261/Morning_Dew_27337.jpg

http://www.fashion-stylist.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/image/Fabric-Shredding-Sana-Zod.jpg

http://www.certificatestreet.com/blog/wp-content/writing.jpg

http://wordincarnate.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/golden-calf.jpg

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biography

List Of Works

Sample Poems

Inspired Poems

Original Poems

Bibliography

Research biography Kirjastohttp://kirjasto.sci.fi/byron.htm Neurotic Poetshttp://www.neuroticpoets.com/byron/ Englishhistoryhttp://englishhistory.net/byron/life.html Poetryfoundationhttp://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/lord-byron Poems: Poetry Archivehttp://www.poetry-archive.com/b/byron_george_gordon.html Wikipediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron