Lecture 12 George Gordon byron

1788-1824

The great English revolutionary poet George Gordon Byron was born in 1788 in an old aristocratic family. His mother came of a rich Scottish family. His father was a poor army officer who spent his wife's money very soon and died when the boy was three years old. The family lived in Scotland, where the boy went to a Grammar school. He liked history and read much about Rome, Greece and Turkey. "I read eating, read in bed, read when no one else read, since I was five years old." The boy was born lame, but he liked sports and trained every day. He could ride a horse very well, was a champion swimmer, a boxer and took part in athletic activities. In 1798 Byron's grand-uncle died and the boy inherited the title of lord and the family estate, Newstead Abbey in Nottingham­shire. The family came to live there and George was sent to Harrow School where boys of aristocratic families got their education.

Byron's first days at that school were unhappy. As he was lame the children laughed at him. But soon the boys began to like him because he read much and knew many interesting facts from history. He wrote poems and read them to his friends.

A schoolboy of sixteen, he fell in love with a girl, Mary Ann Chaworth whose father had been killed in a duel by the poet's grand-uncle. But the girl did not like Byron and later married another man. Byron could not so easily forget her and his love for her save a sad colouring to all his future life.

At seventeen Byron entered Cambridge University and there his literary career began. [33] It was the time after the first bourgeois revolution in France when the reactionary governments of Europe were trying to kill freedom. The European nations were struggling against Napoleon for their independence. The industrial revolution developed in England and many people lost their work.

Byron hated exploitation and sympathized with the working class. In 1807, when he was a student, he published his first collection of poems "Hours of Idleness". The critics attacked Byron in the leading literary magazine of that time "Edinburgh Review". In a year Byron answered the critics in his first satire "English Bards and Scottish Reviewers". In the spring of 1808 Byron graduated from the University.

In 1809 he went travelling and visited Portugal, Spain, Greece and Turkey. In his travels over Europe the poet saw exploitation the same as in his country. Byron described his travels in a long poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage". The first two parts of the poem were published in 1812 and made Byron famous. "I woke one morning and found myself famous," says the poet about his success.

Byron inherited also the right to be a member of Parliament. In his first speech in the House of Lords Byron defended the English proletariat. He accused the government of the exploitation of workers.

In 1815 Byron married Miss Isabella Milbanke, a cold and pedantic woman. They had a daughter, Augusta Ada, whom Byron loved very much. But he was not happy in his family and soon left his wife. Byron's revolutionary speeches in Parliament and the divorce helped his enemies to begin an attack against the poet. Byron was accused of immorality and had to leave England. He went to Switzerland. There Byron met Percy Bysshe Shelley and the two poets became friends.

In 1817 Byron went to Italy where he lived until 1823. Italy was under the rule of the Austrians at that time. The poet joined the Carbonari, a revolutionary organization, which was struggling for the national independence of Italy. In one of his poems Byron wrote: “When a man has no freedom to fight for at home, let him fight for that of his neighbours.”

In Italy Byron wrote many of his best poems: "Don Juan" (1819-1824) - a satire on bourgeois and aristocratic society, and "Cain" (1821). During the same period he wrote his satirical masterpieces "The Vision of Judgement"" (1822) and "The Age of Bronze" (1823). In "Don Juan" Byron says: "1 will teach, if possible, the stones to rise against earth's tyrants." [34]

When the Carbonari movement was ended Byron went to Greece and joined the people in their struggle for independence against Turkey. The struggle for national independence had become the aim of Byron’s life In that struggle he showed himself a good military leader.

In the Greek town of Missolonghi Byron fell ill with typhus and died in April 1824. His friends brought Byron's body to England. They wanted to bury him in Westminster Abbey, where many of England's great writers are buried. But the English government did not let them do it and Byron was buried in Newstead, his native place. Byron's death was mourned by the progressive people all over Europe. A. Pushkin, the great Russian poet, devoted a part of his poem "К морю" to Byron as a poet of freedom.

Answer the questions

1. Where was Byron born?

2. Why did the family move to Newstead Abbey?

3. Was he a good sportsman?

4. What school did he attend?

5. What university did he graduate from?

6. When did his literary career begin?

7. What were the three political events that influenced Byron's poetry?

8. Where did he travel after graduating from the University?

9. What poem made Byron famous?

10. What was Byron's first speech in Parliament about?

11. Was Byron happy in his marriage?

12. Why did he leave England?

13. Who did he meet in Switzerland?

14. What did the Italian Carbonari fight for?

15. Why did Byron join the Carbonari?

16. What did Byron write in Italy?

17. Why did Byron leave Italy?

18. When and where did he go from Italy?

19. Against whom did the Greek people struggle?

20. Why did Byron die so early?

21. Why was he not buried in Westminster Abbey? [35]