Lord Byron

(Redirected from George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron)

George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English peer, nobleman, politician, and poet. He was christened George Gordon Byron, but changed his name later in life. He adopted the surname Noel, so he that could inherit half his mother-in-law's estate.

The Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron2.jpg
Born(1788-01-22)22 January 1788
London, England
Died19 April 1824(1824-04-19) (aged 36)
Messolonghi, Greece
OccupationPoet, revolutionary, lover, peer, politician

Lord Byron was the son Captain John Byron and Catherine Gordon.

He was a leading figure in Romanticism. He was regarded as one of the greatest European poets and still many people read his works. Among his best-known works are the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan.

Lord Byron is also famous for the way he lived his life. He was a dandy, living extravagantly, with many love affairs and debts. His fight against the Turks in the Greek War of Independence lead to his death from a fever in Messolonghi in Greece. He is buried in the family vault in St. Mary Magdalene Church, Hucknall Torkard, Nottinghamshire, England. A memorial was not raised to him in Poet's Cornerin Westminster Abbey until 1969.[1]

He was bisexual[2] (homosexual acts between males were against the law at the time) and he was believed to have been guilty of incest with his half-sister. Lady Caroline Lamb, who was his lover for a time, said that he was "mad, bad, and dangerous to know."

His daughter, Ada Lovelace, was famous because she collaborated with Charles Babbage on the "analytical engine", a predecessor to modern computers.

Bibliography

Major works

 
Byron, 1830

Minor works

Further reading

  • MacCarthy, Fiona: Byron: Life and Legend. John Murray, 2002. ISBN 0-7195-5621-X.
  • McGann, Jerome: Byron and Romanticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-521-00722-4.
  • Rosen, Fred: Bentham, Byron and Greece. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992. ISBN 0-19-820078-1
  • Nicholson, Andrew, editor: The Letters of John Murray to Lord Byron. Liverpool University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84631-069-0.
  • Jean-Pierre Thiollet, Carré d'Art : Barbey d'Aurevilly, lord Byron, Salvador Dalí, Jean-Edern Hallier, Anagramme éditions, 2008. ISBN 2350-35189-0

References

Other websites

Preceded by
William Byron
Baron Byron
1798–1824
Succeeded by
George Byron