Lord Byron Research Paper

Frank Pantano
Mrs. Rush
English 8
4/13/11

Lord Byron Lord Byron is considered to be one of the most important poet in his time. He was as famous for his personality as he was for his poetry. The way his life affected what he wrote made his poems even better. His works, life, and writing style are what made Lord Byron one of the most important poets of the Romantic Movement. George Gordon Noel Byron (Lord Byron) was born on January 22, 1788 in London, England. His dad, Captain “Mad Jack” Byron married his mother, Catherine Gordon, for her money. Throughout their marriage he spent away most of her fortune before he died in 1791. When Lord Byron’s father died he was left with nothing. After his father died he seemed to have a long
life ahead of him. He had a birth defect that made him walk on his toes for his entire life and his mother was unstable. Lord Byron took out his stress by writing poetry. When he was only eight years old he fell in love. When he turned sixteen years old he was told that the woman he loved was engaged. He became very depressed and felt very ill. In 1798 his granduncle died and Lord Byron inherited his uncles estate. Now that he had some money, he went to Trinity College after spending his time from 1801 to 1805 at Harrow. In 1808, he planned to spend the year with his cousin, George Bettesworth. He was the captain of his own ship and in May of 1808 he died in the Battle of Alvon. So, from 1809 to 1811 Lord Byron spent the years cruising the Mediterranean. The Napoleonic Wars were going on in Europe at this time so he had to avoid most of Europe. During this time Lord Byron’s first book of poetry, Hours of Idleness, was published in 1809. The two-year Mediterranean trip gave him most of the material he wrote about in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. These two cantos were the first great successes he had. In 1813 Lord Byron apparently had more than a brother-sister relationship with his half sister Augusta Leigh. She was already the mother of three children. She gave birth to Elizabeth Medora in 1814. Elizabeth was thought by many people to be Lord Byron’s child, but in 1815 he married Anne Isabella Milbanke. They had a child named Ada in the same year, but the marriage did not last and they separated the next year. In 1816 Byron left England when rumors started of his debts.
He was never to return back to England in his life. ''The only virtue they honor in England is hypocrisy,'' (Liukkonen, Petri) he wrote in a letter to his friend when he left England. He settled in Geneva, where he meant Claire Clairmont. She became his mistress, but at the end of summer he moved again. He spent two years working and writing in Italy. "I was struck by his eyes... I have never in my life seen anything more beautiful or more expressive," (Liukkonen, Petri) is a quote from a French writer that saw Lord Byron at an opera in Italy. While in Italy he, wrote several poems including Lament of Tasso, Mazeppa, and The Prophecy of Dante. During his stays in Italy he became very interested in drama. He wrote several dramas including The Two Foscari, Sardanapalaus, and many others. In January of 1817, Claire Clairmont gave birth to his daughter Clara Allegra. Lord Byron abandoned his daughter and she died in 1822 with a bad case of typhus fever. In Italy, he risked his life helping a secret group called the Italian Carbonari in 1820 and 1821. In 1824 he decided to take action and move to Greece. He joined a group called the Greek freedom fighters. By this time he was in Missolonghi, Greece. He unfortunately died here on April 19, 1824 of a
fever. Lord Byron is the most well known of the famous romantic poets.
His poetry had a recurring theme of being romantic. Lord Byron wrote many long romantic poems and some shorter ones in a traditional satirical style of poetry. His poems all varied in their subject matter. A lot of his romantic poems were about the many women he was involved with. An example would be the poem She Walks in Beauty, it is a poem about how beautiful he thought the woman he was in love with was. His poems also were about things he believed in. The poem, The Destruction of Sennacherib, shows that Lord Byron shared his religious views in his poetry. Throughout his travels he went to many places that were inspiration for his poetry. The Lament of Tasso was written when he was in Rome. He visited Tasso's cell, which inspired him to right the poem. His vary in types of poetry and subject matter helped his poetry stay
popular. Lord Byron’s poetry has many connections with what was going on in his life. He first started writing poetry to release the stress of the birth defect that he was born with. His different kinds of poetry were all connected with his life. He was most known for his romantic poetry. In these poems, he wrote about the relationships he had with woman. The places he travelled also influenced his poetry. His travels in Italy got him into drama and that was result of many of his best poems. How religious he was and how much he cared about what was going on around him showed in his life and in his poetry. He wrote about and it was also the reason he chose to move to Greece to help them rise over their rulers by joining the Greek freedom fighters. The connection between his life and his poetry is what made him as popular as he was. Lord Byron was one of the most famous and talented writers of his time. His life, poetry, and the way they were connected are what made him one of the most famous poets of his time. His poetry was an influence on the writing of other poets in his time and continues to influence poets today.