Lord+Byron

=Lord Byron =

The Louvre
George Gordon Byron, now known as Lord Byron, born in England lived from 1788-1824 as a famous writer. He was also widely known for his amorous lifestyle, as he incorporated inspiration from his personal experiences in his writing, during the Romantic era. As a boy, Byron was abandoned by his father, left with his schizophrenic mother and abusive maid. This shaped him into a man who lacked discipline and sense of moderation. In 1798 at age 10, young Byron inherited the title Lord Byron from his great uncle Lord Byron after he passed.

As young as 12, Byron started experiencing love encounters with members in both genders. In 1803 he fell deeply in love with his distant cousin, Mary Chaworth. Then between 1805-1808, Byron attended Trinity College where he got himself involved in many sexual relationships and in great debt. During this time, he also got involved in liberal politics, joining the Cambridge Whig Club by befriending John Cam Hobhouse. They later toured the Mediterranean together, where Byron wrote his famous poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, which reflected his travels in foreign lands. Byron's bisexual encounters continued, and his standards were not too high. He has been known by his partners as being "mad, bad, and dangerous to know." In 1814, Byron married Annabella Milbanke in order to escape pressures of his amorous entanglements. Just one month after giving birth to their first child, Ada Lovelace, Milbanke left Byron, after getting tired of all his drinking, debt, rumors of bisexual behavior, and rumors of being sexually involved with his half sister. She and their daughter were never to be seen again.

Lord Byron is known for being a poet during the Romantic movement, and is widely known for his flamboyant and notorious style. Inspired through his travels and experiences he wrote about adventure, like in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and beauty like in She Walks in Beauty. Also Don Juan which was about lustful experiences with many women. Many dark and repentant poems were inspired by his guilty love affairs. Byron is also known for creating the Byronic hero which he used in many of his writings. A Byronic hero was an idealized by but flawed character who had great talent, passion, distaste for society and social institutions, lack of respect for rank and privilege, loved, was rebellious, often exiled, had a secret past, was arrogant, overconfidence and a self-destructive manner. This style is often seen and is very popular in today's books, comics, movies, tv shows, ect. Characters like Batman, Wolverine, Jack Sparrow, and many more. Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan both contain Byronic heroes.

Byron liked adventure himself, as portrayed in many of his pieces. He traveled often, in 1816 he went to Switzerland where he befriended the Percy and Mary Shelley, as well as Claire Clairmont. Mary Shelley, the writer of Frankenstein, was inspired while spending time with Byron. Claire Clairmont gave birth to Byron's second daughter Allegra. Byron continued his career of writing while in Portugal where he was inspired to write Manfred. At the end of 1816, he continued on to Italy where he was inspired to write one of his most famous pieces Don Juan. Byron also pursued in Romantic adventures of heroism, by joining wars he really had no real involvement with. In 1823, Byron was invited to support Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. He accepted and took command of a Greek fleet. One year later, Lord Byron died after he fell ill during the war and was too weak to get better. He was deeply mourned in England for his writing and in Greece for his heroism.

In 1821, Lord Byron wrote Sardanapalus a tragedy about the fall of Sardanapalus (of Assyria). A story he knew well as a child, he was inspired to learn more and write play about it. It had a great influence on European Culture. Although is was never intended on being performed, however it was produced many times after Byron's death. Also the work by Byron inspired the painting Death of Sardanapalus by Delacroix. This painting hangs at Musee du Louvre in Paris.