George Noel Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)
England

I can never get people to understand that poetry is the expression of excited passion, and that there is no such thing as a life of passion any more than a continuous earthquake, or an eternal fever. Besides, who would ever shave themselves in such a state? -- Lord Byron, in a letter to Thomas Moore, 5 July 1821

Born of noble blood, and with a clubfoot, Lord Byron struggled through poverty and scarlet fever to finally land the family title and estates in 1798 upon the death of his granduncle. In his studies, he was unproductive and lazy, yet he excelled in swimming, boxing, and cricket and read profusely. In 1803 he fell in love with Mary Chaworth, who was already engaged to another man. Her marriage inspired several of his early poems. In college, Lord Byron carelessly overspent his allowance, and continued to improve in boxing, fencing, and swimming. In 1806, he wrote his first volume of work, Fugitive Pieces. Yet it was not published until 1807, after revision and expansion, and under the title of Poems on Various Occasions. Hours of Idleness (1807) and English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809) followed, and granted him immediate fame. In December of 1809, following a tour of coastal Europe, Lord Byron settled in Athens, where he finished the first canto of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. In 1811 he returned to England, and submitted the first and second cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812) for publication. Lord Byron's activities in Parliament at the time were notable and he enjoyed the status of a London socialite and acquainted himself with many prestigious writers and literary figures. In 1813, Lord Byron published The Giaour and The Bride of Abydos. In 1814, he published The Corsair, which became popular in a short matter of time, and Lara. In 1815 he married Anne Isabella Milbanke who bore him a daughter in December. The two would later separate in 1816, and Byron would be cast down from London high society and would flee from England, singing "Adieu! Adieu! my native shore/Fades o'er the waters blue (Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto i. Stanza 13)." He met Percy Shelley in Geneva and the two formed a close acquaintance. Lord Byron would send The Prisoner of Chillon and canto III of Childe Harold to England with Shelley. Although he was separated from England, Lord Byron continued to produce an extraordinary amount of work. He would finish Childe Harold and begin Don Juan in 1818. The years following he would become involved with a noblewoman, Countess Teresa Guiccioli. In 1822 he would lose her to a Papal decree that bound her to her father. Also in 1822 Shelley and Williams drowned and were cremated on shore by Byron and Hunt. With the completion of Don Juan in 1824, Lord Byron died of fever and was returned to England for burial. He died a national hero in Greece as he tried to unite the divergent country.

Criticism

Lord Byron now stands as the quintessential figure of British Romanticism. His passion, reflected in his poetry and his lifestyle, was at the same time intriguing and horrifying to English society. Yet his merits as a writer are not to be denied. From satires to dramas to tragedies, Byron was a master of storytelling, lyricism, and cynicism, and intrigued audiences with his allusions to passion, nature and adventure. He created the Byronic hero, a wandering, brooding man who shuns society and is burdened by the guilt and sins of his past: "But my soul wanders; I demand it back/To meditate amongst decay, and stand/A ruin amidst ruins; there to track/Fall'n states and buried greatness, o'er a land/Which was the mightiest in its old command,/And is the loveliest, and must ever be/The master-mould of Nature's heavenly hand;/Wherein were cast the heroic and free… (Noyes 819)" It is this spirit of darkness that continues to influence artists today.The Byronic hero is in Lara, Manfred, Childe Harold, Don Juan; the Byronic hero is Byron himself. Byron wasn't all "doom and gloom." As extravagant and hedonistic as he was, he was known to be generous, kind, courageous, and hard-working if he could set his mind to it. He was also extremely religious and dreaded the judgment that would come after death. The Vision of Judgment (1822) reflects his "vision of judgement." The devil and the Lord squawk at each other in the same way as Mephisto and God in Goethe's Faust. That was precisely why he created the Byronic hero. Byron was not a brilliant poet; in fact much of his poetry is riddled with stylistic errors. Yet his work conveyed a unique spiritual agony and suffering that only Byron himself could produce. His disillusionment and cynicism still intrigues and delights audiences today.

Work
Hours of Idleness (1807)
"The World is a Bundle of Hay" (1830)
"When a Man Hath No Freedom to Fight for at Home" (1824)
The Vision of Judgment (1822)
"When we two parted" (1816)
English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809)
"She Walks in Beauty" (1815)
"Oh! Snatch'd Away in Beauty's Bloom" (1815)
Childe Harold (1812-1818)
"Darkness" (1816)
Lara (1814)
Manfred (1817)
Don Juan (1819-24)
Mazeppa (1819)
The Prisoner of Chillon (1816)

Sources:

Noyes, Russell. English Romantic Poetry and Prose. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956.