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““I am one I am one with the with the storm!” storm!”
To the 225th anniversary of George Byron’s birthday
“This is I: I am one with the storm! The rolling thunder-stone, reverberating through the abysses of the Alps, is the echo of my own soul! All desolate lands and cities … express me. But I am greater than these symbols, myself, one and indivisible,—a tortured human soul, unconquered, unsurrendering.”
“Byron in Our Day”
J. F. A. Pyre
George Gordon Noel Byron (1788-1824)
was one of the most illustrious British poets who became the
successor of romantic literature originated in the 18th century.
Byron created a popular Romantic character - melancholy, haunted by secret guilt - for which his own life and experience seemed the model.
George Gordon Byron
Photo: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp00691/george-gordon-byron-6th-baron-byron
George Byron was born in London
on 22 January 1788. His mother, Catherine Gordon of Gight
(1765-1811), was an impoverished Scots heiress.
His father Captain John ("Mad Jack") Byron (1755-1791) was a fortune-hunting widower with a little daughter Augusta.
John Byron left his family in dire financial state and eventually decamped for France, an exile from English creditors, where he
died in 1791.
Captain John Byron
Photo: http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/en/writers/writers-lord-byron/lord-byron-family
Mrs Byron was not a bad woman, but she was not a good mother. Passionate and extravagant, she mismanaged her
son from his childhood. She neither looked nor spoke like a gentlewoman; but in the conduct of her
affairs, she was praiseworthy. She avoided debts, and when she obtained a civil list pension of 300 pounds a year
she spent most of it on her son. Mrs Byron was well-educated and had
some taste for reading.
Catherine Gordon of Gight
Photo: http://www.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/community-and-living/faiths--beliefs-and-religions/st--mary-magdalene/george-gordon-byron/;jsessionid=C842125160B16F142839EC84DC6BB88E
Young Byron was christened “George Gordon Byron” at St
Marylebone Parish Church after his maternal grandfather, George
Gordon of Gight, a descendant of James I of Scotland.
Mrs Byron moved back to Aberdeenshire in summer in 1789 where Byron spent his early years.
Photo: http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/aberdeenshire/stonehaven.shtml
From 1794 to 1798 Byron attended Aberdeen Grammar
School. It was a solid foundation enabling him to keep a hand
over his talents and developing interest in
reading and especially a "grand passion" for history that influenced much of his
poetical works.
Aberdeen Grammar School
Photo: http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search_item/index.php?service=RCAHMS&id=70525
From birth, Byron suffered from a deformity of his right foot which caused him both psychological
and physical misery for all his life. Under the care of a Dr. Bailey, he was encouraged
to exercise in moderation, but could not restrain himself from "violent" bouts in an attempt to
overcompensate for his physical defect.
At the age of 10 Byron inherited the title of 6th Lord Byron and the
estate of Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire via his great-uncle the "wicked" Lord Byron.
The Abbey was presented to the Byron family by Henry VIII.
Young boy fell in love with the ghostly halls and romantic ruins of Newstead Abbey where he lived for
a while.
Newstead Abbey
Photo: http://heritagecatering.org.uk/page7.php
Through thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle;
Thou, the hall of my fathers, art gone to decay;
In thy once smiling garden, the hemlock and thistle
Have choked up the rose which late bloom’d in the way.
Of the mail-cover’d Barons, who proudly to battle
Led their vassals from Europe to Palestine’s plain,
The escutcheon and shield, which with every blast rattle,
Are the only sad vestiges now that remain.
“On Leaving Newstead Abbey” 1803
Photo: http://www.aboutbritain.com/NewsteadAbbey.htm
He was privately tutored in Nottingham and his clubfoot
was treated by a quack named Lavender.
In 1799 Byron entered the school of Dr. William Glennie in Dulwich and then he studed at Harrow School in northwest
London.
Harrow School
Photo: http://www.ukstudycentre.com/education/secondary-education/schoolscatalogue/harrow-school/
During the summer holidays of 1803 Byron stayed at Newstead with his tenant, Lord Grey,
and courted his distant relative Mary Anne Chaworth (1786–1832).
The young lady became the reason Byron refused to go back to Harrow school that year.
His mother wrote, "He has no indisposition that I know of but love, desperate love, the
worst of all maladies in my opinion”. When Miss Chaworth grew tired of "that lame
boy," Byron expressed his sadness in melancholy poems in which Mary became the
symbol of unattainable love. His poem “To Emma” is dedicated to her. (Later, when Byron achieved fame she had to regret her rejection.)
Mary Chaworth Musters
Photo: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/mary-chaworth-musters-17861832-47827
Since now the hour is come at last,When you must quit your anxious lover;Since now, our dream of bliss is past,One pang, my girl, and all is over.
Alas! that pang will be severe,Which bids us part to meet no more;Which tears me far from one so dear,Departing for a distant shore.
Well! we have pass'd some happy hours,And joy will mingle with our tears;When thinking on these ancient towers,The shelter of our infant years …
“To Emma” 1807
Photo: http://rompedas.blogspot.ru/2009/12/one-of-finest-american-watercolorists.html
Byron entered Trinity College at Cambridge in 1805. "The place is the devil," he wrote
about it. But there he made some friends who were worthy of
his choice. The scholar-dandy Scrope Berdmore Davies and
his best friend - politician John Cam Hobhouse (1786–1869) were among them.
John Cam HobhousePhoto: http://www.art-prints-on-demand.com/a/wivell/johncamhobhousec1821.html
Trinity CollegePhoto: http://luirig.altervista.org/naturaitaliana/viewpics.php?title=Trinity+College,+Cambridge,+England
In 1806 Byron wrote and published most of his "Juvenile Poems”. His first book was a thin quarto
of 66 pages dated December 23d, 1806. Later in 1807 his new book entitled “Poems on
Various Occasions” was ready for private distribution.
Encouraged by two critics, Henry Makenzie and Lord Woodhouselee, Byron published the next
edition under his own name “Hours of Idleness, by George Gordon Lord Byron, a minor”.
The last issue of Juvenilia cycle “Poems, Original and Translated” was published in March 1808.
Resource: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Works_of_Lord_Byron_(ed._Coleridge,_Prothero)/Poetry/Volume_1
Byron has sometimes been compared to the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759 – 1796) because both of them wrote
from their personal impressions and feelings, frankly showing
themselves in their poetry. In his early poems Byron
expressed how much he despised hypocritical British society as well as the English climate which he found too
rainy.
Photo: http://illustrators.ru/illustrations/46754
Byron’s early poems were criticized for demonstrating a "Scotch accent”. Later he replied to the critics with a satire
"English Bards and Scotch Reviewers”. He always remembered his Scottish roots and the beauty of
the Scottish nature:
England! thy beauties are tame and domestic, To one who has rov'd on the mountains afar Oh! for the crags that are wild and majestic The deep frowning glories of dark Loch na Garr.
“Hours of Idleness"
Photo: http://www.michaelhughesantiques.co.uk/michael_hughes/scottish_painting.html
At the age of 21 in January 1809, Byron took his seat in the House of Lords.
In his speeches Byron was seen as a defendant of social reforms in Britain and
supporter of the Luddites (workers in Nottinghamshire who destroyed textile machines that were putting them out of work). The Lords met such words with
sarcastic remarks insisting on the benefits of automation.
In another speech he expressed opposition to the established church believing it was unfair
to people of other religious beliefs. His parliamentary experiences were reflected
in the political poems: “Song for the Luddites” (1816), “The Landlords' Interest”,
“The Best of the Cut-Throats” (1819) etc.
Photo: http://www.historyevents.ru/4/st11.htm
On 11 June 1809 Byron and his friend John Hobhouse left Britain for the continent
making a Grand Tour over Eastern Europe.
They visited Spain, Malta , Greece, and made an inland voyage to Janina and later to Tepelene in Albania to visit Ali Pasa.
On his return at Janina Byron began an autobiographical poem “Childe Harold”,
which he continued during his stay at Athens. They lodged with a widow, whose
daughter, Theresa Macri, became a prototype for Byron’s “The Maid of
Athens”.
Photo: http://readytogoebooks.com/MOA-P43.htm
In March 1810 the friends went to Constantinople. At the mouth of the Hellespont Byron visited the site of
Troy. On 3 May 1810 he swam from Europe
to Asia across the Hellespont Strait in imitation of Leander (the first
recorded notable example of open water swimming).
Greece made a lasting impression on his mind - he delighted its sunny mild
climate and moral tolerance of the people. After leaving the country,
Byron dreamt to return there again. Photo: http://yesway.ru/greciya-v-akvareli-ot-xudozhnika-pantelis-zografos.html
The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece!
Where burning Sappho loved and sung,
Where grew the arts of war and peace,
Where Delos rose and Phoebus sprung!
Eternal summer gilds them yet,
But all, except their sun, is set.
The Scian and the Teian muse,
The hero’s harp, the lover’s lute,
Have found the fame your shores refuse:
Their place of birth alone is mute
To sounds which echo further west
Then your sires’ “Islands of the Blest.”
“The Isles Of Greece”Photo: http://yesway.ru/greciya-v-akvareli-ot-xudozhnika-pantelis-zografos.html
Thomas Phillips depicted Byron dressed in traditional Albanian
costume that he bought in Epirus (part of modern Greece
and Albania) in 1809, while on a Grand Tour.
In the portrait, the translucent paleness of skin contrasts with
the dark velvet of the costume. It inspired Sir Walter Scott who
compared the portrait to a beautiful alabaster lamp, lit
from within.
Photo: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/george-gordon-byron-17881824-6th-baron-byron-poet-29031
In 1811 Byron returned to England. His mother died that year. "I had but one friend," he exclaimed, "and she is gone."
The poems appeared during this period showed his melancholy and
desolation. Soon after in 1812 Byron
successfully published the first two cantos of “Childe Harold’s
Pilgrimage” which arose the interest of contemporaries to his
works and personality.
Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childe_Harold's_Pilgrimage
The plot of the story is said to be taken from the experience of
Byron’s travels around Mediterranean (1809-1811).
It demonstrates the first example of the character lately known as
“Byronic hero” – a well-educated, attractive and mysteriously
charming person, rather cynical, with self-destructive behaviour.
George Byron’s poetry promoted English Romanticism as an
international style.
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage by J.M.W. Turner. 1823.
Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Childe_harold.jpg
In 1813-1814 other Byron’s works were published: “The Waltz”, “The Giaour”, “The Bride of Abydos”, and “The Corsair”. These
Turkish Tales became even more popular than “Childe Harold”.
Byron had an active social life being a member of various London’s political clubs and a welcomed guest at the famous salons.
The abdication of Napoleon evoked "An Ode”, “Lara, a Tale” (an informal sequel to “The
Corsair”). The dark inner side of Byron’s characters
started to be confused in the mind of the readers for that of the poet himself as he
supported such myth around his persona, but it would cause him more harm lately. Photo: http://www.wikipaintings.org/ru/tag/fictional-characters/22
As a child, Byron had seen little of his half-sister Augusta Leigh (1784-1851) but in adulthood he had
a close relationships with her. A potential influence came into Byron’s life as they
met in London during the season of 1813-1814. There were some people who treated their relations
as innocent but others interpreted them as incestuous.
Augusta Leigh (a married woman) gave birth to her third daughter, Elizabeth Medora Leigh (1814-1849).
She was brought up together with her sisters and brothers however a girl was treated in Byron’s family
as his child.
Augusta Maria Leigh
Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta_Leigh
In 1815 Byron married Anne Isabella Milbanke ("Annabella") (1792-1860)
who refused his first proposal of marriage but later accepted him.
Baroness Byron was a woman of high morals, intelligent and mathematically
gifted. Their daughter Augusta Ada Byron (1815-1852) or Ada as she was called in the family was born in the same year.
The marriage was unhappy, and they were given a legal separation in 1816.
Lady Byron was awarded sole custody of Ada who she brought up to be a mathematician and scientist.
Anne Isabella Milbanke
Photo: http://englishhistory.net/byron/stowebyron.html
Augusta Ada Byron
Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace
My soul is dark
My soul is dark—Oh! quickly string The harp I yet can brook to hear;And let thy gentle fingers fling Its 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—
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 nurst, And ached in sleepless silence long—And now 'tis doom'd to know the worst, And break at once—or yield to song. 1815
Photo: http://www.help-rus-student.ru/text/06/080.htm
The reasons for separation were never given and rumors began to fly, most of them
connected with Byron’s relations with Augusta Leigh.
When the rumors grew, Byron went abroad, never returning to England. He became the
most famous exile in Europe. From May to December in 1816 Byron spent
time in a company of an English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) and his friends in
Geneva, Switzerland. Claire Claremont, Byron’s mistress, gave a
birth to his daughter Clara Allegra Byron (1817-1822) (later she was placed in a convent near Ravenna where she died of typhus fever).
View of Villa Diodati, Byron's home on Lake Geneva
Photo: http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/en/writers/writers-lord-byron/lord-byron-geneva
Clara Allegra ByronPhoto: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Allegra_Byron.jpg
In Geneva Byron sailed round the lake and visited the castle of Chillon. He finished the third canto of “Childe Harold” and began his new poem “The Prisoner of
Chillon” (published December 5, 1816). In September Byron made excursions in
the Alps. Impressed by fascinating scenery he depicted the Alpine sights in the first
two acts of “Manfred”. His old friend Hobhouse was with him and
he had a nice time, but in his letter to Mrs Leigh Byron noticed that he could not lose his "own wretched identity" in the
"majesty and the power and the glory" of nature.
Manfred on the Jungfrau. John Martin (1837)
Photo: http://www.judgmentofparis.com/board/showthread.php?t=2365
…My mother Earth! And thou fresh breaking Day, and you, ye Mountains, Why are ye beautiful? I cannot love ye. And thou, the bright eye of the universe That openest over all, and unto all Art a delight - thou shin'st not on my heart. And you, ye crags, upon whose extreme edge I stand, and on the torrent's brink beneath Behold the tall pines dwindled as to shrubs In dizziness of distance; when a leap, A stir, a motion, even a breath, would bring My breast upon its rocky bosom's bed To rest forever - wherefore do I pause? “Manfred”
Photo: http://www.bibliotekar.ru/k102-Constebl/7.htm
In 1816 from April to October Byron travelled around Italy. He visited Milan,
Verona, Rome and Venice . He studied the history and the language of the country.
Italian scenes appeared in his poetry: "The Lament of Tasso”, “Beppo, a Venetian Story”, "Ode on Venice”, the fourth canto of “Childe
Harold” and others. Byron continued to protest against society's
hypocrisy. He himself led a life of a man who rejected the standards and morals of the day.
The Grand Canal from the Campo San Vio
Bernardo Bellotto (1721-1780)
Photo: http://www.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/community-and-living/faiths--beliefs-and-religions/st--mary-magdalene/george-gordon-byron/;jsessionid=C842125160B16F142839EC84DC6BB88E
One of Byron’s final and greatest works "Don Juan" was also produced in 1818. In this drama he tried to remind about
his Scottish roots again:
But I am half a Scot by birth, and bred A whole one, and my heart flies to my head, - As 'Auld Lang Syne' brings Scotland one and all, Scotch plaids, Scotch snoods, the blue hills and the clear streams, The Dee, the Don, Balgounie Brig's black wall, All my boyhood feelings, all my gentler dreams Of what I then dreamt, clothed in their pall, Like Banquo's offspring.
This satiric work was too free for that days as Byron said about it. Though the poem is based on the legend of Don Juan, Byron changed the plot describing Don Juan not as
the famous seducer but on the contrary as a man who easily succumbs under women’s charm.
Photo: http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/en/writers/writers-lord-byron/lord-byron-byronic-heroes
In the spring of 1819 in Venice Byron got acquainted with an Italian Countess Teresa Guiccioli (1800-1873). Young, beautiful and well-read, she fell in love with Byron at first sight and soon became and for nearly four
years remained his true wife won his devotion and prolonged constancy.
They settled at Ravenna where Byron was received in society as her cavaliere servente.
Byron’s literary activity was great. He wrote historical dramas: "Mazeppa, a tale of the
Russian Ukraine”, “Sardanapalus”, “The two Foscari”, “Cain”, “Heaven and Earth”.
Teresa GuiccioliPhoto: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/countess-teresa-guiccioli-c-18001873-47808
Byron influenced European opinion by both his poetry admired in his home country and on the continent and his political views. However the British laughed at his politics but on the
continent he was seen as the prophet and defender of liberty.
Byron supported the revolutionary movement of the Greeks for
independence from the Ottoman Empire. In April 1823 Byron accepted
the offer by the London Greek Committee to act as its agent in the
Greek war. All of his legendary enthusiasm and energy were at the
service of the Greek army.
Lord Byron being welcomed by Greeks
Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Byron_in_Greece.jpg
Byron spent £4000 of his own money to refit the Greek fleet and sailed for Missolonghi to support the Greek with military power.
While leading an attack in the Missolonghi marshes Byron caught a fever and on 19 April
1824 he passed away.
Byron’s death was mourned by the Greeks, and he became a hero throughout the country. His heart was removed and buried in Missolonghi.
His remains were sent to England. Refused to be placed in Westminster Abbey, Byron was buried at Newstead. Only in 1969, a memorial to Byron
was finally placed on the floor of the Abbey.
Photo: http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/byron.htm
My days are in the yellow leaf;
The flowers and fruits of Love are gone;
The worm, the canker, and the grief
Are mine alone!
The fire that on my bosom preys
Is lone as some Volcanic isle;
No torch is kindled at its blaze—
A funeral pile.
“On This Day I Complete
My Thirty-Sixth Year” 1824
Photo: http://wallpaper-s.org/11__Coming_Tempest.htm
Byron’s charismatic figure and charm,
energetic style and wild imagination, his
expressive verse made him the ideal of the Romantic writer who influenced writers in
other countries.
Photo: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/6th-lord-byron-17881824-47789
The presentation is made by
Svetlana Panfyorova, the librarian of the Department of
literature in foreign languages
Tula regional universal research library2013
1. Biography of George Gordon Lord Byron [Electronic resource] // PoemHunter.Com : [the site]. - [S. l.], 2012. - http://www.poemhunter.com/george-gordon-lord-byron/biography/ .
2. Coleridge , E.H. Biography of George Gordon Byron / by E. H. Coleridge, ed. by A.Gilmour. – [S. l.] : The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1905. - http://www.ashfield-dc.gov.uk/ccm/navigation/community-and-living/faiths--beliefs-and-religions/st--mary-magdalene/george-gordon-byron/;jsessionid=C842125160B16F142839EC84DC6BB88E .
3. Famous Scots - George Gordon Byron (Lord Byron) (1788-1824) [Electronic resource] // Rampant Scotland : [the site]. – [S. l., s. a.]. - http://www.rampantscotland.com/famous/blfambyron.htm.
4. The life of George Byron [Electronic resource] // Englishhistory.net : [the site]. – [S. l., s. a.]. -http://englishhistory.net/byron/life.html .
5. Lord Byron Biography [Electronic resource] // Famous Poets And Poems.com : [the site]. - [S. l.], 2006–2010. - http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/lord_byron/biography .
6. Lord Byron – biography [Electronic resource] // European Graduate School : [the site]. – [S. l.], 1997–2012. - http://www.egs.edu/library/lord-byron/biography/ .
7. Pyre, J.F.A. Byron in Our Day // The Atlantic monthly. – 1907. – April. -
http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/07apr/pyre.htm
