For maximum effect, please pretend you are in the year 1813 while reading the following post. Also, pretend you are reading from paper and not a computer. How about drinking a cup of tea while you read it by candlelight?

Dearest friend,                                                         June, 1813

 

 

I must tell you about my life threatening encounter with the notorious Lord Byron. Yes, he is a gentleman who writes (have you read Childe Harold´s Pilgrimage? If not, then you should) but I must say that he is mad, bad and DANGEROUS to know. 

First, let me describe his looks: His pale skin seems like a porcelain vase illuminated from within, his blue eyes are so intense they almost stopped my heart, and his “devil may care” attitude makes me care all that more. Just so you don´t think I am completely in love with him, let me say he does have a receding chin.

Second, he is not just a pretty face; he is involved in politics, giving his support to the working class. Must he always do the opposite of what he is expected to do? Is like he is delighted to be hated by his aristocratic peers.

But he is nice to look at and helps those less fortunate (Dreamy). 

Unfortunately he is famous not only for his poetry, but also for his womanizing ways. He tried to seduce me, and I told him we should just be friends. He responded "“A mistress never is nor can be a friend. While you agree, you are lovers; and when it is over, anything but friends”. Can you belive the nerve? I will under no circumstances become another one of his conquests. I am married for God´s sakes.

Nevertheless, I enjoy his poems very much. He signed my copy of the Giaour. It tells the story of a woman in the East, drowned in the sea for being unfaithful. Her lover later avenges her by killing her master, but he himself must then pay for his sins and is doomed to live as a vampire.

Just as Lord Byron himself, his writing is a contradiction. The Giaour shows the same event from a Muslim and Christian point of view. Lord Byron is both good and wicked. And I both despise him and adore him.

I think I´ll  go visit with him soon.

If I ever tell you I have fallen under his spell, please smack me.

Yours truly,

Lady Caroline Lamb

 

 

Ok, now you can go back to being a young literature student (or teacher – hello Mr. Villa) in the 21^st century.

To make the post mote interesting, above I wrote a letter as if I where Lady Caroline Lamb, using the letter as a device to provide some backstory on Lord Byron and highlight the importance of the public character he created which has a direct influence in his notoriety.

Lady Caroline Lamb went down in history as one of Lord Byron´s craziest lovers. When he became bored of her she went mad and made quite a spectacle of herself. Lord Byron is sometimes referred to as a “rock star poet” because of the many scandalous rumors (and some facts) about his private life.

Lord Byron was only mentioned in class, but I wanted to know more about him and his poetry, since he is considered such an important author of the Romantic era. After my research I can conclude that his poetry is wonderful, but (as most poets) he probably had mental issues. You can see his inner contradictions in his poetry: The clash of the ideal world and the real world.

Even though he always stated that his writings were not autobiographical, It is easy to see that he drew heavily from his real life. And perhaps his greatest work of art is himself: The heroes he created in his imagination versus the man he really was.

After his death, his friends went over his memoires, but decided after some consideration, they should never be published and burned them. Thes mystery about the man contributes to the greatness of his legacy.

My personal favorite poems by Lord Byron are (click the name to read) :

She Walksin Beauty

Epitaphto a Dog

Lachin y Gair

 

I urge you to watch “The Scandalous Life of Lord Byron” in which Rupert Everett retraces the late romantic poet´s journey: the good parts, the bad parts, and the funny parts. It’s in five parts on YouTube.

 

References:

The Independent. Great lovers: A celebration of true romance – Lord Byron and Lady Caroline Lamb. Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/romance-passion/great-lovers-a-celebration-of-true-romance-1895508.html?action=gallery&ino=5

 

History Channel. (2004) Biography.

Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usuxB9lOGUA