LORD BYRON’S LOVE AFFAIRS AS REFLECTED IN HIS POETRY

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION
GRADUATION PAPER
LORD BYRON’S LOVE AFFAIRS AS
REFLECTED IN HIS POETRY
Supervisor : Đỗ Thu Hương, MA
Student : Ngô Hạnh Quyên
Course : QH2010.F1.E21
HÀ NỘI - 2014
ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH
KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP
LORD BYRON’S LOVE AFFAIRS AS
REFLECTED IN HIS POETRY
Giáo viên hướng dẫn : Đỗ Thu Hương, MA
Sinh viên : Ngô Hạnh Quyên
Khóa : QH2010.F1.E21
HÀ NỘI - 2014
I hereby state that I: Ngo Hanh Quyen, student of QH2010.F.1.E21, being a
candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the
College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in
the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or
reproduction of the paper.
Signature
Ngo Hanh Quyen
Date: 05.05.2014

ABSTRACT
Lord Byron was one of the greatest poets in Romanticism. He was famous for both
his notorious love life and outstanding poetry. For Byron, poetry was the reflection of
love which, in turn, was the root of poetry. This research will be based on the strong
connection between these inseparable factors to study Byron’s emotions when he was in
his relationships with Mary Chaworth, John Edleston, Augusta Leigh, Lady Byron, and
Countess Teresa Guiccioli, by analysing literary language in some related poems of the
Poet. The research will then find out the characteristics of these love affairs, as well as
the differences among them, so as to highlight Byron’s characteristics in love.
4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Do Thu Huong,
MA for her thorough guidance and enthusiastic support throughout this research. Her
useful advice has been a great help to me in completing my graduation thesis.
I would also like to offer my special thanks to my grandfather, Professor Nguyen
Xuan Huy, for his valuable and constructive suggestions with regards to the thesis. It was
my grandfather who led me to literature and gave me inspiration to do research on Lord
Byron. Therefore, this study would never been conducted without him.
Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support and
encouragement throughout my college years. Especially, I wish to thank my
grandparents, my parents, my younger brother, and my best friend Ngan, whose great
love and support enabled me to complete this study.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………. ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………. iii
LIST OF APPENDIXES………………………………………………………. v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………… 1
1.1. Rationale…………………………………………………………… 1

1.2. Aims of the study……………………………………………………. 3
1.3. Scope of the study…………………………………………………… 3
1.4. Significance of the study…………………………………………… 4
1.5. Methodology……………………………………………………… 4
CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND……………………………………………… 6
2.1. Literature theories……………………………………………………. 6
2.1.1. Literature…………………………………………………… 6
2.1.2. Poetry………………………………………………………. 9
2.2. English society and literature in the early nineteenth century………. 10
2.2.1. English society in the early nineteenth century……………. 10
2.2.2. English literature in the early nineteenth century………… 12
2.3. The life of Lord Byron: love and poetry…………………………… 14
2.3.1. Family background and personal life………………………. 14
2.3.2. Love life……………………………………………………. 16
2.3.3. Poetry………………………………………………………. 18
CHAPTER 3: ANALYSIS…………………………………………………… 21
3.1. Mary Chaworth……………………………………………………… 21
3.2. John Edleston……………………………………………………… 25
3.3. Augusta Leigh……………………………………………………… 28
3.4. Lady Byron………………………………………………………… 35
3.5. Countess Teresa Guiccioli…………………………………………… 38
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION………………………………………………… 42
4.1. Major findings……………………………………………………… 42
4.2. Limitations of the study…………………………………………… 45
4.3. Suggestions for further research…………………………………… 45
REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………. 46
APPENDIXES………………………………………………………………… 50
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LIST OF APPENDIXES
Appendix Page

A Potted biographies of the five figures studied in the research 50
B Lord Byron’s poems used in the research 52
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8
Lord Byron
(1788—1824)
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
“Lord Byron was in the flower of his age one of the greatest poets of modern
times, and his heroic mind had engaged in a cause which opened to his active powers a
new career of glory.”
Sir Cosmo Gordon, 1824.
George Gordon Noel, sixth Baron Byron (1788 – 1824), widely known as Lord Byron,
was an English Romantic poet, who is considered one of the world’s greatest poets of the
nineteenth century. With a massive collection of highly valuable works contributing to
world literature, the genius and dedication of Lord Byron cannot be denied. As “the
embodiment of Romanticism”
1
, his compositions always picture the strongest and
sincerest emotions in the liveliest way. But what distinguishes him from other Romantics
is that Byron’s emotions did not come from the imaginary, but from the reality. He spent
his whole life experiencing the world relentlessly, broadening his mind and enriching his
soul with fascinating stories of adventures, then collecting every piece of them to fulfill
his colourful album of life. With Byron, “strong sense of fact and entire emancipation
from the inhibitions of his contemporaries led him to the celebration of ‘unadorned
reality’” (Trueblood, 1969). It can be said that Byron is an extraordinary representative of
Romanticism. Undoubtedly, his influence on world literature is profound and prolonged.
He himself created his own glorious era in literature – the era of Byronism, and became a
great source of inspiration for numerous writers of the time. Regardless of time, the

works of Lord Byron – among those are the famous Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812 –
1 From Retrieved April 24, 2014
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1818) and Don Juan (1819 – 1824) – remain their outstanding value and still captivate
readers all over the world nowadays.
Apparently, Byron devoted every moment of his thirty-six years to poetry, and to
love. Byron’s private life definitely proved itself to be the Poet’s most famous collection
of romantic poems. As for the Poet, love was like the air he breathed, he fulfilled his life
with love, and loved relentlessly. Undoubtedly, Lord Byron’s life was attached to love,
and was defined by love. Francis Gribble (1910) claims that, “Whether a book is called
‘The Love Affairs of Lord Byron’ or ‘The Life of Lord Byron’ can make very little
difference to the contents of its pages. Byron’s love affairs were the principle incidents of
his life, and almost the only ones” (p. v). Love affected every aspect of his life, and
existed in every phase of his days. The Poet’s love was, perhaps, the most colourful and
distinctive love on earth. However, despite being through numerous affairs, with all
shades and colours, Byron’s love was never superficial. He always loved with all his
heart, sincerely and passionately. All these overwhelming feelings, in the end, found their
solace in the Poet’s verse.
With his genius and outstanding life, Lord Byron has always been a world leading
figure for more than two hundred years. However, the name of Lord Byron, seemingly,
has not yet received a proper attention in Vietnam. We all know Victor Hugo, Alexander
Pushkin, Alexandre Dumas, and Heinrich Heine – the brilliant stars in the sky of world
literature – but we do not seem to pay much attention to Lord Byron, although it is
necessary to notice that Lord Byron, more or less, exerted his great influence on the
formers directly in their compositions.
2
Obviously, Vietnamese readers have been
encountering many difficulties in approaching Byron and his poetry, since the source of
authentic materials on the life and works of Lord Byron, both original and translated
versions, remains scarce.

2 Henley, W. E. (2009). William Ernest Henley “Byron” (1890). In H. Bloom (Ed.), Bloom’s
classic critical views: George Gorgon, Lord Byron (pp. 107-108). New York: Infobase.
11
Acknowledging the major disadvantages that Vietnamese readers have to face, I
decide to do research on Lord Byron. As a person of adventurous spirit, I am always keen
on exploring new topics and novel aspects which no other researchers has touched upon
before. And Lord Byron’s life and poetry, undoubtedly, have proved to be a fertile
ground for me to do research on. Furthermore, I chose to study the Poet in relation to his
love life and his poetry for the fact that love and poetry were always inseparable in his
life. For Byron, poetry was the reflection of love, and in turn, love was the root of poetry.
Although being a pioneer is never easy, the sense of honour and passion are my major
motivation to conduct this research.
1.2. Aims of the study
The study aims at analysing the literary language and imagery utilized in some
selected poems by Lord Byron which he wrote for, to, or concerning his love interests,
depicting his love affairs, or expressing his own feelings towards the relationships. A
comparison of shades among these relationships will be drawn. Also, the Poet’s
characteristics in love will be made clear.
More specifically, the study will try to find out the answers to the following
questions:
- Who are the lovers having the most significant influences on Byron’s love life?
- How are their images and relationships with Lord Byron reflected in his poetry?
- What are the differences among these relationships?
- What are the love characteristics of Lord Byron reflected in his poetry?
1.3. Scope of the study
Lord Byron’s poetry varies from graceful lyric poems to powerful narrative ones.
Due to the limitation of time, studying all his extensive collection is obviously an
impossible task and somehow excessive with regard to the requirements for a Bachelor’s
thesis. Therefore, the research only covers the field of lyric poems. In other words, all
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lengthy narrative poems, including Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and Don Juan – the two
most famous and massive works of the Poet, will not be mentioned, even if they might
carry some details influenced by the Poet’s experience in love.
Besides, the research will merely focus on analysing literary language and imagery
in Lord Byron’s poems. Other factors can be excluded.
1.4. Significance of the study
This research will provide Vietnamese readers and researchers, especially
language students, with basic knowledge of English literature in the early nineteenth
century in general, and of Lord Byron’s life and poetry in particular. Although this is
only a small-scale research and its findings may have certain limitations, the knowledge it
offers is precious and meaningful, and cannot be underestimated, particularly in the
context of material shortage in Vietnam. The presence of a research on Lord Byron – the
leading figure of the Romanticism and one of the greatest poets in world literature – will
definitely enrich the substantial body of research in the field of literature, and thus, giving
Vietnamese readers an interesting and nutritious food for the mind and soul.
Also, the research will play the role of a pioneer in the research field of the
University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi
(ULIS – VNU), there has never been any studies on poetry generally and Lord Byron’s
poetry particularly. Therefore, this study will take an important mission of opening a new
direction in scientific research, inspiring and encouraging students to think out of the box,
dare to take risk, and challenge the realm of themselves.
1.5. Methodology
Step 1: Study Byron’s personal life in general and his love affairs in particular
Step 2: Enumerate possible figures
Step 3: Investigate Byron’s poetry, search for poems he wrote for/about his lovers
13
Step 4: Cross out some figures that have insufficient data or materials to do research on.
Make a final list of figures with their research materials (poems).
Step 5: Read and analyse materials – poems, only choose important or key details to
analyse and bring into the paper.

Step 6: Draw a conclusion for each figure about their relationships with Byron and his
feelings for them.
Step 7: Come to a final conclusion for the whole: compare and contrast the relationships,
then point out who was the great love in Byron’s short life.
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CHAPTER 2
BACKGROUND
2.1. Literature Theories
2.1.1. Literature
What is literature?
Richard Green Moulton (2013) claims that literature takes its origin of the ballad dance.
“Literature, where it first appears spontaneously, takes this form: a theme or story is at
once versified, accompanied with music, and suggested in action” (p. 11). Accordingly,
literature has its roots thousands of years ago “in an early stage of civilization”, in the
form of ancient chants and “folk dances,” which can now be told only by folk tales or
religious stories. It started as the dances “when the Israelites triumphed at the Red Sea,
Miriam ‘took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels
and dances,’” or “when David, at the inauguration of Jerusalem, ‘danced before the
LORD with all his might’” (p. 11). In its early days, when literature remained in its
embryo, its existence was so simple that we could not give it a name. But it would be a
mistake if we attempted to tie literature to writing. Moulton believes that literature is
“uncommitted to writing;” it “came direct from the lips of the poet to the ears of the
public” and “was preserved by verbal tradition” even before the appearance of writing (p.
22).
Thenceforth, literature has gone through numerous ages of taking shape,
developing and flourishing in human history with many ups and downs; from The
Republic by Plato, The Odyssey and The Iliad by Homer in ancient Greece, to Beowulf in
the early of medieval period, until people named it “literature” and argued about the
meaning of the word they invented for centuries. Since then, the concept of literature has
15

changed over times. As mentioned in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms
(2001), literature used to be defined as “a totality of written or printed works;” since the
19
th
century, however, theorists came up to a new definition which was considered
narrower. The new definition, accordingly, limited the range of works that could be
categorized as “literature” as it eliminated all the aspects of “factual or practical
reference,” only “imaginative, creative, or artistic value” was preserved (Baldick, p. 141).
Discussing this trend of defining literature, Terry Eagleton (1996, p. 16) also
claims that by the time of the Romantic period (around the late 18th century and early
19th century), “imaginative” was believed to be a typical feature to define literature.
Literature and “imaginative” became inseparable twins, “virtually synonymous.” Writers
seemed to value the aspect of emotion and spontaneous feelings rather than fact and
reality; it was assumed that “to write about what did not exist was somehow more soul-
stirring and valuable than to pen an account of Birmingham or the circulation of the
blood” (Eagleton, 1996, p. 16).
In this way of understanding, literature could mainly include poetry, drama, and
fiction; non-fictional works must be excluded. Aesthetic aspects and recreational
purposes were emphasized; while practical aspects were ignored. When it came to the
mid 20th century, critics seemed to have another idea when adding non-fictional works –
which had belonged to the “non-literary” group earlier – into the literary group. By
expanding the range of literature, it is now defined as the “body of works which – for
whatever reason – deserves to be preserved as part of the current reproduction of
meanings within a given culture” (Baldick, pp. 141-142).
The Russian Formalists, “a group of theorists who flourished in the Soviet Union
in the 1920s” (Griffith, p. 18), tried to define literariness from the language perspective.
Formalists merely studied the linguistics of literature, focused on literary form while
ignored literary “content” (Eagleton, p. 3). They believed that the “quality” to identify a
literary work is its language. Language of literature must be “enough” and “different
16

from ordinary, everyday language” (Griffith, p. 18). It was understood to possess the
aesthetic and certain properties, such as “rhyme, metre, plot, setting, and
characterization,” which could be based on to identify and analyse literary works.
John Martin Ellis (1974), however, believes that we are confused about the
definition of literature because we have been attempting to build it out of such properties;
we have been looking for a group of “common features” and imposing it on what we call
“literary works” without acknowledging a fact that there are not always “physical
similarities” to define upon, and that “one formulation [cannot] be used in all cases” (p.
36). He argues that “a definition needs not be in terms of any common features at all, and
that in some cases […] performance is the key area for a definition” (p. 36). Through a
vivid example in case of the concept “weeds,” John Ellis makes a connection with the
case of literature and points out that “Literary texts are not defined as those of a certain
shape or structure, but as those pieces of language used in a certain kind of way by the
community” (p. 42). “Literary texts,” he claims, “are defined as those that are used by the
society in such a way that the text is not taken as specifically relevant to the immediate
context of its origin” (p. 44).
Terry Eagleton (1996, p. 9) shares the same opinion with Ellis when claiming that
“Literature, in the sense of a set of works of assured and unalterable value, distinguished
by certain shared inherent properties, does not exist.”
So far, this research has provided many opinions of experts and researchers on the
definition of literature. However, the question “What is literature?” is, as John Ellis says,
“evidently a basic question” but “unanswered or even unanswerable” (Ellis, p. 24). The
debate on this issue will certainly last long in the future. But, within the limit of this
thesis, it now has to give way to another question: What is poetry?
17
2.1.2. Poetry
What is poetry?
Richard Moulton (2013) claims that “The primary element of literary form is the ballad
dance” (p. 11). From that “starting-point,” literature developed in four directions:
description, presentation, poetry, and prose, which are considered “the four cardinal

points of literary form” (p. 17). Accordingly, description is to narrate what happened in
the past; presentation is to perform the exact events happening at that very moment; prose
is to discuss what already exists; and poetry is to create something new. “Poetry thus adds
to the sum of existences;” Moulton says, “the world is the richer by so many personalities
and incidents when the poets have completed their work” (p. 16). It can be said that
poetry enriches not only the world but also the human soul. Perhaps, Moulton
understands poetry in a broader sense, in which all the acts of artistic creation in
literature, or – in his words – “creative imagination,” are considered poetry. In this sense
of the word, not only is verse the expression of poetry, but other forms of expression such
as novel, short story, epic, drama…are also included. This is to make a contrast with
prose, which is merely practical writing without any “creative imagination.”
In another sense, poetry can refer to poems in general – a collection of literary
works which are written in lines, usually follow certain rules on sound, rhyme, or the
number of syllables… For being under rules and limitations, along with ensuring the
aesthetic, poetry is usually condensed and densely covered with literary devices, such as
metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, allegory, figurative speech, foil and so on. Words in
poetry convey connotative rather than denotative meanings; and every single word can
carry profound implications and be “the expression of strong and deep feeling” (Holmes,
2013, p. 14). In this research, the writer agrees on using the later sense of poetry.
Even in this one sense, nonetheless, there are countless “sub-definitions” of
poetry. “What is poetry?” Edmond Holmes (2013) claims in his book of the same name,
“There are as many answers to this question as there are minds that take an interest in it”
18
(p. 13). William Henry Hudson (2006, p. 64) quotes some sayings of critics’ and poets’
on their own definitions of poetry. Accordingly, there are countless ways to define
poetry: one may say poetry is spontaneous emotions, other claims it is nothing but
imagination; a critic likens poetry to pictures made of the colours of words, while a poet
calls it “musical thought.”
Above is the basics of literature and poetry. However, to analyse and comprehend
a text, particularly a poem, merely understanding the theory is never enough. It is

somehow more necessary to know the context of the poem, where, when, and for whom it
was produced. For that reason, in the following parts of the research, English society and
literature in the early 19th century will be discussed so that readers will be provided with
the historical background of Byron’s poetry.
2.2. English society and literature in the early nineteenth century
2.2.1. English society in the early nineteenth century
Nineteen-century Britain always evokes the picture of Victorian era – an era of peace,
innovation, expansion, and prosperity in the history of Great Britain. Under the reign of
Queen Victoria (1837 – 1901), Britain became the most powerful country in the world,
and was described as “the world’s foremost economic power” (Nguyen et al., 2012).
Also, in this era, the saying “the sun never sets on the British empire” expressed the
“sense of supreme confidence” (Nguyen et al., 2012) of the Victorians in their seemingly
endless territory – “the biggest empire the world had ever seen” (Nguyen et al., 2012).
However, what we are supposed to discuss is the beginning of the century,
particularly around its first twenty or thirty years, which was the period before Queen
Victoria came to the throne. This transition period can be likened to a bridge between two
lands, not exactly a new one: the eighteenth-century Britain had been physically left
behind in the past, but the typical nineteenth-century Britain had not taken shape yet.
19
The preceding more than a third of a century is sometimes simply subsumed into
‘Victorianism’, as if Victoria’s shadow embraced the entire century; and the earlier
decades of the nineteenth century, although a period during which major transitions took
place, are much less investigated than the latter part. These decades have been
predominantly characterized in two conflicting ways, either as the last gasping stretch of
the ‘long eighteenth century’, or as a mere prelude and overture to the Victorian Age.
They were both. (Hall, 2004, p.430)
As a transition period, it took the characteristics of both the former and the latter
ages. In relation with the eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution starting around
1760s continued during the first decades of the new century. Although the Industrial
Revolution had enormously contributed to Britain, “the nature of the new industrial

society forced many people to live and work in very unpleasant conditions” (Nguyen et
al., 2012). With “hundreds of thousands of people moved from rural areas into new towns
and cities” (Nguyen et al., 2012), urbanization made the cities become more chaotic and
complicated. Now it came to the nineteenth century – the century of “the social evil.”
One of the most noticeable issues of the nineteenth-century Britain is sexuality.
According to Lesley A. Hall (2004), in the early decades of the century, “libertine
discourses and scurrilous obscene satire” came out as a tactic applied by the radicals for
“politically revolutionary purposes.” By the 1920s, however, being “depoliticized,”
libertine satire was widely published merely for commercial purposes. In this period,
sexuality and prostitution were topical issues discussed openly in papers and also in the
political system when they introduced Acts, the Contagious Diseases Acts for instance, to
take control of the issues. Men preferred hedonism and pursued sexual pleasure even
without dignity, while women became bolder and more proactive in seeking love. They
themselves, whose typical image is portrayed as “a right little raver,” “managed to
discover and enjoy sexual pleasure” (p. 434). The perception had changed significantly;
in which, women were then not solely the tool to satisfy men’s desire, but a main subject
who “[possessed] desires which could be constitute a demanding and dangerous
20
temptation” (p. 434) and required to be satisfied. Prostitution started to grow rapidly, and
became ubiquitous till the other half of the century. Also, the period witnessed a flourish
of homosexuality. It “was gradually becoming more visible,” and “cities such as London
had a burgeoning homosexual sub-culture” (pp. 438-439). Nonetheless, it remained to be
a sensitive issue, and was not publicly recognized yet, while sodomites still received
contempt from some segments of society, especially when “sodomy between males was a
capital offence” (p. 438) at the beginning of the century.
The nineteenth century was a period full of fluctuations in the social structure of
Britain. “For contemporaries,” Martin Hewitt (2005, p. 305) claims, “the history of the
nineteenth century was written above all in the shifting fortunes of the classes, the eclipse
of the aristocracy, the triumph of the middle class and the challenge of the working
class.” Urbanization along with the Industrial Revolution caused a massive flow of

people from rural areas, abandoning their lands, going to big cities to do such manual
jobs as domestic servants or factory workers. “The nature of the new industrial society
forced many people to live and work in very unpleasant conditions” (Nguyen, et al.,
2012). The middle classes continued to “grow and diversify” and “establish their own
identity” (Tames, 2006, p. 145). This period remarked “the steady eclipse of the upper
classes in the face of the emerging middle classes” (Hewitt, p. 308). In portraying the
existence of the nineteenth-century British aristocracy, instead of the word “eclipse,”
Richard Tames uses another word to reflect another seemingly opposite and more
optimistic perspective on the same fact – “the survival of the aristocracy.” Tames claims
that “the aristocracy survived the shocks and strains of the nineteenth century” for its
flexibility and openness to everyone: “anyone who wishes to abolish it or attack it as a
body would have a hard task to define the object of his onslaught” (p. 145).
2.2.2. English literature in the early nineteenth century
English literature has undergone nearly two thousand years of its long and glorious
history. Along with world literature and historical context in certain ages, it has been
21
living an unstable life full of ups and downs, in which each phase played a distinguishing
important role and all contributed to its body. Abrams (1999) draws a timeline of English
literature from its first record – Old English Period (450-1066), till now – the Modern
Period (1914-present). According to Abrams, the time between 1785 and 1830 belonged
to the Romantic Period.
It is obvious to recognize that the research will focus on the Romantic Period in
English literature. Given the fact that, in the early nineteenth century, Britain was
undergoing the Industrial Revolution which caused many changes in society: factories
sprang up, cities became crowed with people from rural areas, working and middle
classes grew rapidly while upper classes lost their pre-eminence, social evils were
widespread…many writers chose to reflect the reality, criticize the new society or poor
living and working conditions, write for humanity… A representative of this style was
Charles Dickens with his famous novel Oliver Twist. However, this trend had not become
popular until the second half of the century. Other writers, Romantic poets and novelists

in typical, ignored the depressing reality, released their soul to seek for the land of intense
and spontaneous emotions, of love stories or beautiful nature. When cities became
narrower, they returned to the peaceful countryside, “praised the beauties of the
countryside and the simplicity of country life” (Nguyen, et al., 2012). Romanticism,
which valued “imagination,” “aspiration,” and “freedom of individual self-expression”
(Baldick, pp. 222-223), was the mainstream of English literature in the early nineteenth
century.
Major Romantic English writers were Wordsworth, Robert Burns, John Keats,
Percy Shelly, Mary Shelly, Sir Walter Scott, novelist Jane Austen…and Lord Byron – the
subject of this research.
22
2.3. The life of Lord Byron: love and poetry
2.3.1. Family background and personal life
George Gordon Byron was born on the 22nd of January 1788 in London. His father was
Captain John Byron (also known as ‘Mad Jack’), who came from an eminent noble
family. Captain Byron was a profligate man who seduced the Marchioness of Carmarthen
for her fortune. Their marriage was not happy, and the lady died of a broken heart after
she gave birth to two daughters, only one of those survived. Captain Byron soon married
Miss Catherine Gordon of Gight, a Scottish heiress of honourable descent, who was then
the mother of the Poet. Captain John Byron later added ‘Gordon’ in his name in order to
inherit a fortune from his second wife’s family, which was the only reason for his
marrying her. Within only two years, he squandered all her inheritance. They got into
huge debt and had to flee to France in 1786, where the Captain died five years later. Mrs.
Byron returned to England at the end of 1787 and gave birth to the Poet in 1788.
In 1790, Mrs. Byron took her son to Aberdeen, Scotland, where the Poet spent his
early years in the immense love and care of his mother. In 1798, with the death of his
great-uncle, Byron inherited his title and the estate of Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire.
He became the sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale, and left Aberdeen for the new residence
with his mother.
Byron attended Harrow School in 1801. It was during this time that Byron

developed his personality and talents. He began to write verse, and became a leader in all
the sports despite the pain and the inconvenience caused by his congenital clubbed right
foot. Also, his bisexual tendencies were recognized in Harrow. In October 1805, Byron
went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he formed his lifelong friendships. In the
period between 1805 and 1809, Byron published some of his poetry collections and got
unexpected success.
From 1809 to 1811, Byron left England for a voyage to the Mediterranean
countries. It was in this tour that he formed many of his intimate relationships, and
23
collected materials for his famous Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, of which the first two
cantos were published in 1812.
The year of 1811 witnessed Byron’s great loss when his beloved mother passed
away in August and the news of the deaths of his friends, among those was a boy with
whom Byron used to have a passionate relationship while in Cambridge, struck him hard
continually.
Byron married Miss Annabella Milbanke in January 1815. Before that, he did
propose to her once in 1812 but was turned down. During their marriage, Byron had to
face financial problems, which made him behaved aggressively and irrationally. It was
Lady Byron who had to suffer his bad temper all the time. On 10th December 1815, she
gave birth to their daughter, Augusta Ada Byron, the only legitimate child of the Poet.
The couple got separated in the following year.
It is believed that Byron had intention of residing abroad before his marriage, but
not until April 1816 did Byron leave England under the pressure of public calumnies,
huge debts and failed marriage.
Byron spent a few months in Switzerland. Then, in October 1816, he went to Italy
and decided to reside in Venice after travelling around the north of the country. Tired of
the life in Venice and driven by his love for the beautiful Countess Guiccioli, at the end
of the year 1819, Byron moved to Ravenna. He started writing Don Juan (1819-1824),
one of his most famous works. In the autumn of 1821, Byron moved to Pisa, and then to
Genoa in 1822.

Greece and its struggle against the Ottoman Empire inspired Byron and he left
Italy in July 1823 to join the Greeks in their fight for independence. With all the burning
enthusiasm of a poet, a solder – and above all – a revolutionary, Byron devoted himself,
not only by means of his property but also his energy, to the war.
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Byron suffered from a bad fever and passed away on 19th April 1824 in
Missolonghi. His body was then brought back to England on the 29th of June, and was
buried in the family vault near Newstead Abbey.
2.3.2. Love life
The life of Lord Byron seemed to be full of complication right from his birth. Since love
is considered one of the largest proportions of his life, it was abnormal and dramatic
itself. Byron’s love life can be likened to an unfinished great romantic novel which would
have become so much greater in length and content if he had not died so young at the age
of 36.
Being endowed with beauty and charm, Lord Byron was absolutely a notorious
angel-like womanizer of the time. His beauty was like pretty flowers attracting every
butterfly, and his verse was like sweet honey appealing to every bee. He seemed to
possess a magical love spell that hypnotized every woman he ever met. However, not
only women but also men were enchanted by the Poet: It would be a huge deficiency if
not mention a significant number of his homosexual affairs. It might be supposed that
Byron could find his contentment in the colourful garden full of bees and butterflies. The
Poet, however, was not always fulfilled throughout his love life.
Byron had his first love in 1803. Although he met Mary Chaworth in 1798, when
he became the sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale after the death of his great-uncle, and with
his mother moved to Newstead, not until the summer of 1803 did Byron realize his
special feeling for Miss Chaworth. During this time, Byron had to suffer from Mary and
her friends’ derisive laughs and sarcastic remarks for his limp. Not only did Mary’s
words hurt him, the fifteen-year-old boy was so infatuated with his first love that he did
not realize she was in love with another man. Mary got married in 1805, leaving the Poet
with his first sorrow in love.

Among Byron’s homosexual affairs, John Edleston was perhaps the most well-
known story. Byron met John Edleston, a choirboy two years younger than he, while he
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