Harold Bloom, a Yale University professor, once said that “George Gordon, Lord Byron, is literature’s most notorious instance of a writer’s life becoming his work, indeed taking the place of it. ” (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 1). Lord Byron was a famous poet that illustrated his emotions through his literature very effectively. Ironically, Byron enjoyed reading and writing, but hated poetry at an early age (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 9). However, Byron’s first piece of literature to be published, called “Fugitive Pieces,” was introduced in November, 1806 (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 21).
Many factors contributed to the various writing styles and themes of Lord Byron’s literature; his troubled childhood as well as the way that he obsessed over sexual relationships are the greatest influences to Byron’s poetry. Foremost, Lord Byron’s life was a monumental reason for the chosen themes in his poems, such as lustful thoughts and depression. On January 28, 1788, George Gordon Noel “Lord” Byron. Byron was born with a clubfoot; clubfoot is a disease that causes a distortion in the foot (A&E). This illness that he obtained caused him problems with other children and peers in the future.
This was the first problem in his life that would contribute to the depressing tone that he so commonly wrote in (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 8). He refused to properly aid his foot in the proper treatment to help his issue which led to the disease becoming more severe than it could have been. Additionally, he grew up with a schizophrenic mother, a father who left him early on, and a nurse who would hurt and molest him (A&E). These situations were the key reason why Byron was viewed as a depressing, yet full of love writer.
The sadness and lack of proper guidance from adults led to the lack of happiness and joy in his life. The improper lust for women that he possessed was most likely developed from the relationship between him and his nurse when he was young. Moreover, Harold Bloom said that, “She (May Gray, Byron’s nurse) contributed to his future contempt for pious hypocrites and affected his relationships with women. ” (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 9). He also showed defiance to the guardians and older influences of his childhood.
He was sometimes violent with these adults and even caused harm to his aunt once when she tried to discipline him (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 8). He was also put under tremendous pressure at a young age because of the fact that he was put into Lordship before he was in schooling (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 5). However, the decision to put Byron in a school named Harrow was a revolutionary choice for him because he learned how to be a true nobleman and it enhanced his love for literature and writing (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 11-12).
These issues with adults and their roles in his life continued into his older age. He had an extremely horrific experience at the age of twenty three when he went his mother’s funeral; most people do not see one of their parents buried at such an early age (A&E). The unhealthy parenting paralleled in his life when he began drinking constantly and divorced his first wife. As a result, it led to his first child went with her mother (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 69). Overall, the continued confusion and sad events of his past led to him having a depressing tone in most of his poetry.
Furthermore, Byron possessed a weird obsession over many of the women he encountered in life. This was another basis for the types of poems that he wrote and sometimes even relating the theme of his poem to love. He was an attractive man to women as many fell for him almost instantly because of his physical features (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 31). This made his search for sexual partners much easier because of the willingness of potential mates to want him. He showed his affection toward many family members, especially in his teenage years.
The earliest account of Byron’s love would be at the age of 15 when he fell deeply in love with his distant cousin, Mary Chaworth, and expressed his love for her through poetry (A&E). Regardless of Byron’s feelings towards her, nothing serious ever came of his confession of love for Chaworth. He eventually got married to a girl that he loved named Anne Milbanke, but shortly after marrying her, she and their daughter left him and he never saw them again as he left England forever (A&E). Coupled with the drinking that led to their short time together, he also continued to lust for other women.
He even committed adultery with a girl named Augusta and felt terribly about cheating on his wife. As a result of the guilt he felt, he wrote a poem about adultery (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 37). When Byron left London, he stayed with a family of his close friends. His loving nature extended itself to the stepsister of his friend’s wife and he soon learned that he would have a kid with this new lover (A&E). Yet he never got into a committed relationship with this girl and soon lost his lust for her. At the age of 30, Byron met a married woman that was 19 years old named Teresa Guiccioli.
They loved each other so she eventually left her current husband for Byron. Byron had won over her father by the fact that he was fighting against Austrian rule and highly in favor of the independence of Italy (A&E). In essence, the love that Byron obtained for various women was a huge contributor to the way that he wrote some of his literature. Within Byron’s literature, he wrote a decent portion of his poetry about love. The poem “She Walks in Beauty” perfectly represents how his feelings and experiences in real life reflected his writings.
The poem title immediately captures the attention of the reader and makes them think of a gorgeous lady; almost goddess-like. We can also infer that Lord Byron greatly admires the lady he is speaking of by the way that he phrases the words like a direct statement from him to the reader. Assuredly, he goes into careful detail about how she is beautiful and her eyes are starry as well as dreamy. Furthermore, he explains how insects and even the sunlight is lucky to be able to be on her skin and in her presence (Marshell).
Byron best illustrated just how perfect she was by using many different types of figurative language. For instance, he used alliteration, like in lines eleven through twelve where he says “Where thoughts serenely sweet his express, how pure, how dear their dwelling-place. ”, to enhance his compassion and make the poem flow smoothly (Marshell). Unquestionably, he uses this figure of speech to compare the easiness of speaking the lines to the way that his love is easy and patient for her. Additionally, Byron uses a rhyme scheme to create a rhythm for the reader which compares to the smoothness of love.
Love is not rigid and stern; it is smooth and has a definite rhythm that always stays on beat, even when things get tough (Marshell). Byron’s attitude that he displayed in this selection is expressive, emotional and obviously loving towards the woman he is speaking of. There are two shifts in the poem that each happen six lines in each stanza. Accordingly, there are eighteen lines total in three stanzas that each contain six lines (Marshell). In conclusion, Byron’s theme that he creates in this whole poem is that everyone should try to find someone that makes them feel the same way that he feels about the woman he is speaking of.
He could have been talking about anybody in this poem because he was always obsessing over a female in his life. He had no idea that the way he was treating his lovers was wrong or that he had a strange addiction to women. “She Walks in Beauty” is a renowned poem that sincerely shares Byron’s inner ambitions for the women that he loves. Ultimately, Byron truly focused in on the depressing tone that he inherited from his horrible childhood. A very distinguished example of this sadness displayed in his poetry would be the piece “Darkness”.
Namely, the title itself means that there is no light. One might predict that Byron is stating that there is no good left in the world (Porter). The world is cast into darkness when the sun disappears one day and everyone is forced to be selfish and worry solely about their individual survival. Then, Byron elaborates in great detail how much the people that are left on a dark-filled Earth are filled with enormous fear (GradeSaver). People quickly become desperate for the sight of other humans and to feel the sad connections between one another.
Additionally, he explains how certain people go into panic attacks and frenzy, while others fake happiness and wear emotionless smiles (Porter). Before long, humans and animals alike start to become scavengers and seek out any source of food possible. This further shows the common idea of war, even in the disastrous times that could occur. In conclusion, the darkness takes over everything by “forcing” the last two men to kill each other and then taking over the entire universe (GradeSaver). The meaning of this poem directly relates towards the attitude of the poem and to Byron’s outlook on life as well.
He shared an attitude of depression, solitude and defeatedness that protruded all the way into his personal life (Porter). Looking back on the title, the name “Darkness” was written in part due to the mass hysteria of the time that the sun would die out on July 18, 1816. He wrote this in part to create an image for people that still feared the issue arising (GradeSaver). The theme that Byron creates in this poem is that people and animals that are in nature are always seeking survival. No matter what the occasion presents, the mindset is always for everyone’s personal safety.
Byron uses the madness associated to the darkness to share how everyone became equals when little homes to huge palaces were burned for light. (GradeSaver). In closing, this poem probably best explained the true image of how Byron saw the world in his eyes. Ever since he was a child the world was against him. He had this image of the world all the way up until his death when he was trying to be a hero and help gain independence for Italy (Porter). Conclusively, Lord Byron’s love-lust past and the horrific childhood that he endured, had a major impact on how he wrote his poems in terms of style and theme.
Although other ideas were displayed through his works, the two major factors were described in the above paragraphs. One example of another experience that connected to the way Byron wrote was that he went to oppose the Ottoman Empire alongside the Greek when he suddenly became sick and died. This displayed how he wrote about heroism, like “Don Juan” (A&E). Best put by Duke Pesta, “Dark and brilliant, melancholy and vivacious, overtly sexual and sexually ambitious, the shadowy side of the Byron persona…” (Pesta, Bloom and Willis 59).
