Romanticism

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George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron

George Gordon Byron was born in London, England on January 22, 1788, and named after his

maternal grandfather, George Gordon of Gight, a descendent of King James I of Scotland. Byron

traveled throughout Europe. According to the Poetry Foundation, “With the death in 1798 of his

great-uncle, the "Wicked" fifth Lord Byron, George became the sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale, heir to

Newstead Abbey, the family seat in Nottinghamshire. He enjoyed the role of landed nobleman . . .”

(para. 4). Known for his scandalous lifestyle, Lord Byron left England forever, on April 15, 1816. He

was part of the famous group in Geneva that produced Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s famous gothic

novel Frankenstein (1818). The Poetry Foundation explains his early demise, stating,

On 9 April, having been soaked by a heavy rain while out riding, Byron suffered fever

and rheumatic pains. By the twelfth he was seriously ill. Repeated bleedings, which he

initially resisted, further debilitated him. On Easter Sunday, he entered a comatose

state. At six o’clock on the evening of Easter Monday, 19 April 1824, during a violent

electrical storm, Byron died . . . .

Byron’s body arrived in England on 29 June, and for two days lay in state in a house in

Great George Street, London. On Friday, 16 July 1824, Lord Byron was buried in the

family vault beneath the chancel of Hucknall Torkard Church near Newstead Abbey.

(para. 53, 55).

Today, he is known now simply as Lord Byron.

Read more about Lord Byron at the Poetry Foundation: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/lord-byron

Read the Poetry on Bartleby.Com: "She Walks in Beauty": http://www.bartleby.com/101/600.html

Lord Byron, by Thomas Phillips, 1823

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"When We Two Parted": http://www.bartleby.com/101/597.html

"Youth and Age ": http://www.bartleby.com/41/465.html

Discussion Board: Choose one poem from this collection (one of the 3 poems listed for Wordsworth or one of the 3

poems listed for Byron in this lesson) and explain what it means to you: What does the poems have to

say that is meaningful in your life or in modern life in general? Reply to at least 3 other students. Your

"new post" should be 150-200 words; replies an be 30-40 words.

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Works Cited

“Lord Byron (George Gordon).” The Poetry Foundation. The Poetry Foundation. n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2014.

Phillips, Thomas. Lord Byron. 1823. Newstead Abby, Nottinghamshire. Wikimedia Commons. Web 21

Dec. 2014.