George Gordon Byron

Lord Byron was born on 22 January 1788 in London, England. He was the son of John "Mad Jack" Byron, a dissolute and reckless aristocrat, and Catherine Gordon Byron, a Scottish heiress with a temperamental personality. He inherited his title and estate from his great-uncle William Byron, the 5th Baron Byron, when he was 10 years old. He was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he developed his interest in literature and classical languages. He also became notorious for his extravagant lifestyle, his numerous love affairs, his debts, and his rebellious behaviour. He was arrested several times for theft, assault, drunkenness, and other offences. He also had a tattoo on his upper arm that read "Bon Scott - 19 years old - $250 fine or 6 months". He published his first collection of poems, Hours of Idleness, in 1807, which received harsh criticism from the Edinburgh Review. He responded with a satire, English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809), which attacked many of his contemporary poets and critics. He then embarked on a grand tour of Europe and the Mediterranean, visiting Portugal, Spain, Malta, Greece, Turkey, and Albania. He recorded his impressions and experiences in his first major poem, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-1818), which established his fame and popularity as a Romantic poet. He also wrote several Oriental tales in verse, such as The Giaour (1813), The Bride of Abydos (1813), The Corsair (1814), and Lara (1814), which featured exotic settings and adventurous heroes. ¹ He returned to England in 1811 and became a prominent figure in London society. He was admired for his poetic genius, his handsome appearance, and his charismatic charm. He was also involved in many scandals and controversies, such as his incestuous relationship with his half-sister Augusta Leigh, his unhappy marriage to Anne Isabella Milbanke, his affair with Lady Caroline Lamb, and his involvement in the radical movements of the time. He fathered several illegitimate children with different women, including Ada Lovelace, who became a pioneer of computer science. He also befriended other poets and writers, such as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, Leigh Hunt, and Thomas Moore. ¹ In 1816, he left England for good amid public outrage and personal troubles. He settled in Switzerland with the Shelleys for a while, where he wrote The Prisoner of Chillon (1816) and The Third Canto of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1816). He then moved to Italy, where he lived in Venice, Ravenna, Pisa, and Genoa. He wrote some of his most famous poems during this period, such as Manfred (1817), Beppo (1818), Mazeppa (1819), The Prophecy of Dante (1821), Cain (1821), The Vision of Judgment (1822), Sardanapalus (1821), The Two Foscari (1821), Werner (1822), Heaven and Earth (1823), The Deformed Transformed (1824), The Island (1823), and The Age of Bronze (1823). He also began his masterpiece, Don Juan (1819-1824), a mock-epic that satirized the conventions of romance and society. The poem was considered immoral and blasphemous by many critics and readers, but it was also admired for its wit, humour, and originality. ¹ In 1823, he joined the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. He sailed to Greece with money, arms, and supplies to support the cause. He became a national hero and a symbol of freedom for the Greeks. He also planned and financed several military operations, such as the attack on Lepanto and the siege of Missolonghi. However, he fell ill with a fever and died on 19 April 1824 in Missolonghi. He was 36 years old. His body was embalmed and sent back to England, but he was denied a burial at Westminster Abbey due to his scandalous reputation. He was buried at the family vault in Hucknall Torkard, near Nottingham. In 1969, a memorial stone was placed for him in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. ¹