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He is entirely George Gordon Byron. The second name (Gordon) was given to the child in honor of the mother, who belonged to a noble Scottish family. And the sonorous surname came from his father, a descendant of the Norman knights.
George Byron: a short biography
He was born in London on January 22, 1788. Soon, the mother took the baby to Scotland, as the father squandered their fortune.
Together with the blood of an aristocrat, the boy received frail health. It is not enough that he was born with a crooked foot. Like his mother, George was prone to nervous seizures and was also prone to unhealthy obesity. For several years, young Byron did not study at all, because he healed his leg. But all this time he read avidly, absorbing book after book.
Newsted Abbey – Byron ancestral domain
Attempt at writing
At Cambridge, however, George entered a different person. First, he received an inheritance – the title of baron. Secondly, the young man improved his health: he almost got rid of lameness, thanks to horseback riding, boxing and swimming, he lost a lot of weight.
In 1807, he published the first book of poetry, which went unnoticed. And at the age of 21 he went to wander around the Mediterranean. George left his homeland, being in a blues, but he could not unwind. The reason was both financial problems and the loss of a mother.
Confession
In the winter of 1812, the Baron made his first appearance in the House of Lords. The fiery speech against tyranny impressed the British. They were even more delighted when the first chapters on Childe Harold, signed by Byron, came out. The poet recalled that he woke up in the morning and realized that he was famous.
The glory that illuminated him was all-European. Childe Harold was read everywhere, because many themes intertwined in it – inequality, heroism, the thirst for freedom and the hypocrisy of society.
Then poems, pamphlets, stories, novels “The Abydos Bride” and “Corsair” appeared. Anything that came out of the pen of the eccentric lord received an enthusiastic response. And he himself began to be called Furious Jack.
Character and views
Byron was identified with his Childe Harold. But can they be considered doubles? Byron, like his character, suffered from “spleen” (now they would say that it is depression). He was also called a cynic, a rake, accused of selfishness and arrogance. But it was only armor behind which the poet hid his vulnerability.
Byron, like Childe Harold, was a rebel and a patriot; he supported national uprisings, sympathized with the Luddites, and founded a liberal magazine.
Byron’s personal life
The gossip about drinking and orgies that surrounded the lord is exaggerated. As his friends assured him, the poet had neither gigantic health nor the means to indulge in excesses. But scandals did happen in the life of the peer, which, however, correlated with his social environment.
Byron’s last portrait, 1813
For example, in 1815 he married Lady Milbank, a gifted, well-read girl. And a year later, the couple broke up without explanation. Moreover, the baron was deprived of the right to raise a newborn daughter. Pursued by gossip, he went to Switzerland, and from there to Italy and Greece.
Byron: cause of death
Abroad, Byron creates new songs by Childe Harold and Don Juan, learns Armenian, translates Dante, falls in love with Countess Guiccioli, finances Italian carabinieri and Greek rebels …
And also heals himself, experiencing the “newest” means. Obviously, this undermined his rather shaky health, because the ailments that the poet suffered (malaria, rheumatism, “bile spillage”) were healed first with opium, then with bloodletting.
“Finished off” Byron’s common cold. “The poet was burnt with fever” in Greece on April 19, 1824. They buried him with honors, like a Hellenic hero. He was 36 years old …
Byron transformed not only English, but world literature. Perhaps there is no Russian poet who would not translate Byron, did not imitate his motives. Furious Jack inspired Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz, Delacroix, Pushkin. He continues to inspire contemporary writers, musicians and directors.
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