Line #12 Creator/LordByron


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/783px_george_gordon_byron_6th_baron_byron_by_richard_westall_2.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Mad, bad, and dangerous to know."]]
3
4	->''"No words suffice the secret soul to show,\
5	For truth denies all eloquence to woe."''
6	-->-- '''Lord Byron''', from ''The Corsair''
7
8	George Gordon Byron, [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever 6th Baron Byron]] (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), was an English {{Romantic\|ism}} poet, womaniser, and revolutionary. Among his best-known works include ''Literature/DonJuan'' and ''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'', and he [[TropeNamers gave his name]] to the ByronicHero, using the character in his work [[WriteWhoYouKnow and being one in real life]].
9
10	Byron was born on 22 January 1788 in London, the son of Army Captain John "Mad Jack" Byron, of a junior line of moderately old gentry family[[note]]the male-line ancestors of the 1st Baron Byron--Lord Byron's great-great-great-uncle--had been knights at least as far back as his great-great-grandfather in the 15th century.[[/note]] and Catherine Gordon (heiress to the Scottish estate of Gight, in Aberdeenshire), who married in 1785. He had club foot, which became a very touchy subject for him, and he could only walk on the balls of his toes, the right foot being bent inwards. Eventually, he had to wear shoes specifically made to accommodate it after several painful, futile attempts to treat it.
11
12	By the time George was born in 1788, "Mad Jack" had squandered most of Catherine's money, and she took her son to Aberdeen to eke out an existence on the remaining crumbs and a small trust fund; "Mad Jack" died of tuberculosis in 1791. In 1798, then ten years old, George unexpectedly inherited the title and the family seat at Newstead Abbey from his great-uncle William, the 5th Baron Byron, and his mother proudly took him to England. The Abbey, however, was in a state of disrepair, and she decided to lease it to a Lord Grey de Ruthyn, among others, during Byron's adolescence, but Byron himself was wowed by its ghostly halls and spacious ruins. Byron also had his first sexual experience with his Scots-Calvinist nurse, May Gray, who would "come to bed to him and play tricks with his person". She was later sacked, apparently for beating Byron when he was eleven.
13
14	Byron received his early formal education at Aberdeen Grammar School, and, in August 1799, entered a school in Dulwich. His mother, however, interfered with his studies, often withdrawing him from school, and thus, he lacked discipline and ended up neglecting his classical studies. He was then sent to Harrow School in 1801, where he remained until July 1805. In 1803, he fell in love with his distant cousin, Mary Chaworth, who was older and already engaged, and when she rejected him, she became the symbol for Byron of idealized and unattainable love. He probably met Augusta Byron, his half-sister from his father’s first marriage, that same year.
15
16	In 1805, Byron went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he acquired an alarming amount of debt and indulged in the vices of the undergraduates then. Most notably, he engaged in multiple sexual escapades with women ''and'' men; one of his escapades was what Byron described as "a violent, though pure, love and passion" for a young chorister named John Edleston. In 1806, he privately published his first volume of poetry, ''Fugitive Pieces'', which was recalled and burned on the advice of his friend, Rev J.T. Becher, on account of its more amorous pomes like ''To Mary''. That same year, he befriended John Cam Hobhouse, who instilled into him an interest in Whiggism, and Francis Hodgson, a fellow of King's College with whom he corresponded on literary matters.
17
18	Byron published ''Hours of Idleness'' in 1807, and an anonymously published sarcastic review stirred him into riposting with ''English Bards and Scotch Reviewers'' in 1809, his first major satire. The work upset his critics to the point that he was challenged to a duel, though it gradually became a distinction to be a target of Byron.
19
20	In adulthood, he was famous for scandalous behaviour and was a romantic but outrageous figure of rumour and gossip. He gave two memorable speeches in the House of Lords. One was a DeadpanSnarker rant [[https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/speech-by-lord-byron-about-the-frame-breakers objecting to a proposal legislating the death penalty for framebreaking]] -- [[LuddWasRight traditional hand-weavers sabotaging mechanical looms]] that were putting them out of business. He pointed out that cloth made by machines wasn't nearly as high quality or long-lasting. Later he spoke up for Catholic emancipation (Catholics couldn't vote or own property) and against having an official state religion.
21
22	His poems include the semi-autobiographical ''Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'' and the long NarrativePoem AlternativeCharacterInterpretation ''Literature/DonJuan''.
23
24	'''The women in his life included:'''
25	* Lady Caroline Lamb, wife of the future [[UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet Prime Minister]] UsefulNotes/ViscountMelbourne. She described him as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know"... ''before'' their affair even started.
26	* Augusta Leigh, his [[BrotherSisterIncest half-sister]]. Augusta (who was married) had a third daughter, Medora Leigh, [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe who may (or may not) have been Byron's child]].
27	* Lady Caroline's cousin, Anne Isabella Milbanke, whom Byron married. The marriage was not happy, but produced one daughter, Ada Byron. Ada later married the Earl of Lovelace, becoming known as "Ada Lovelace". Anne regarded Lord Byron's brooding Romanticism as a form of insanity, and so raised Ada with a focus on logic and mathematics so she would not [[TurnOutLikeHisFather Turn Out Like Her Father]]. As a result, Ada came to be interested in the sciences, and worked with Charles Babbage in his development of mechanical computing machines. When Babbage designed his (never-built) Analytical Engine, it was Ada who recognised the possibility that these machines could be used to manipulate any kind of information, and not simply conduct elaborate mathematical calculations. She thus became the person after whom the programming language Ada was named in recognition of the oft-overlooked contribution of women to computer science. All at least in part because Lord Byron's wife thought Lord Byron was mad. Despite this, Ada Lovelace did want to know her father more and requested to be buried next to him. As for Lord Byron himself, she was his sole legitimate child and he commented on their parting as such:
28	-->'''Lord Byron:''' Is thy face like thy mother's my fair child! ADA! sole daughter of my house and heart?
29	* Claire Clairmont, the step-sister of Creator/MaryShelley (the author of ''Literature/{{Frankenstein}}''). They had a daughter, Allegra, who died at the age of 5. Byron was very good friends with Shelley, and was famously present for her first reading of ''Frankenstein''.
30
31
32	Byron took part in the Greek War of Independence (1821-1830). He died, after being repeatedly bled with dirty surgical instruments, of a fever contracted while in Messolonghi in Greece, in 1824 at the age of 36. He is regarded as a hero in Greece for his humanitarian aid to the cause of independence.
33
34	Along with being associated with Greece, he was fascinated by Armenian culture and history and immersed himself therein, learning the language and creating translations of significant Armenian works. He is considered the founder of modern [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_studies Armenian studies]].
35
36	%% Don't put in a blurb saying "Do not confuse with Byron Hall." We Do Not Talk About Byron Hall.
37
38	!! Works by Lord Byron on the wiki:
39
40	* ''Literature/{{Darkness}}''
41	* ''Literature/DonJuan''
42	* ''Theatre/{{Manfred}}''
43	----
44	!!Tropes from the works of Lord Byron:
45	* AntiHero: Byron liked these so much that a certain type are often called "Byronic heroes".
46	* BlueBlood: To be a Byronic Hero, it helps to have the leisure to spend your time learning, travelling, brooding, and womanising (and man-ising), and so most of Byron's heroes are aristocrats like himself.
47	* ByronicHero: ''Obviously''. Byron used this type of character very often, and he was considered to be one himself in real life. Byron's description of Conrad, the protagonist of ''The Corsair'', provides the general essence of the character:
48	-->''He knew himself a villain—but he deem'd\
49	The rest no better than the thing he seem'd;\
50	And scorn'd the best as hypocrites who hid\
51	Those deeds the bolder spirit plainly did.\
52	He knew himself detested, but he knew\
53	The hearts that loath'd him, crouch'd and dreaded too.\
54	Lone, wild, and strange, he stood alike exempt\
55	From all affection and from all contempt:''
56	* {{Cain}}: ''Cain'' tells the story of CainAndAbel but through Cain's eyes. Being the TropeMaker for that trope, Cain is interpreted as a ByronicHero and AntiHero, viewing him as symbolic of a [[FourTemperamentEnsemble sanguine temperament]], provoked by Abel's hypocrisy and sanctimony.
57	* CurbStompBattle: "The Destruction of Sennacherib," based on the Biblical account of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem.
58	* DarkIsNotEvil: "She Walks in Beauty" doesn't go deeply into moral questions[[note]]probably just as well, since it was supposedly inspired by the beauty of Byron's cousin's wife[[/note]], but it makes an excellent case that darkness is not ''aesthetically'' bad.
59	-->''She walks in beauty, like the night\
60	Of cloudless climes and starry skies;\
61	And all that's best of dark and bright\
62	Meet in her aspect and her eyes\
63	Thus mellow'd to that tender light\
64	Which heaven to gaudy day denies.''
65	* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "Darkness" is a fanciful description of one such scenario, caused by the sun being "extinguish'd."
66	* FeelingTheirAge: "So We'll Go No More a Roving" has the 29-year-old Byron lament that he can't be quite as wild a partier as he used to be:
67	-->''For the sword outwears its sheath,\
68	And the soul wears out the breast,\
69	And the heart must pause to breathe,\
70	And love itself have rest.''
71	* GorgeousGreek: Byron had a soft spot for female Greeks as heroines that often had tragic romances with his protagonists such as Haydée in ''Don Juan''. No doubt this was influenced by Philehellenism (love for Greek culture).
72	* TheNightThatNeverEnds: "Darkness" explores the effects of one.
73	* {{Pirate}}: ''The Corsair'', published in 1814, tells the story of Conrad, a wild and ruthless Aegean pirate whose only virtue is the love he feels for the gentle Medora.
74	* TakeThat:
75	** Byron notably did not think highly of Creator/JohnKeats. Even though he had some begrudging respect for the other poet, conceding that the ''Hyperion'' is a "fine monument", he mocked how Keats was [[CantTakeCriticism killed off by a bad review]] throughout his life. To name one example among many, Byron wrote a squib in response to learning that Creator/PercyByssheShelley accused the Quarterly of killing Keats:
76	--->''"Who kill'd John Keats?"\
77	"I," says the Quarterly,\
78	"So savage and Tartarly;\
79	'Twas one of my feats."''\
80	\
81	''"Who shot the arrow?"\
82	"The poet-priest Milman\
83	(So ready to kill man),\
84	Or Southey or Barrow."''
85	** Byron himself was the target of one in ''Glenarvon'', in which Clarence de Ruthven is essentially an unflattering stand-in for Byron.
86	* WriteWhoYouKnow: The subject of an unflattering example in ''Glenarvon'' by Lady Caroline Lamb. Clarence de Ruthven, Earl of Glenarvon, is essentially an unflattering, thinly veiled portrait of Byron.
87	----
88	!! Has featured in the following works:
89	[[AC:ComicBooks]]
90	* He appeared in ''Comicbook/TheInvisibles''.
91
92	[[AC:{{Film}}]]
93	* The opening to ''Film/BrideOfFrankenstein'', in which he and Percy Shelley are entertained by Mary Shelley's telling of the narrative of the movie.
94	* He is portrayed by Creator/GabrielByrne in the 1986 horror film ''Film/{{Gothic}}'', which depicts a fictionalized version of Percy and Mary Shelley's visit to Byron at Villa Diodati.
95	* He is depicted by Tom Sturridge in the 2017 autobiographical period drama Film/MaryShelley.
96
97	[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
98	* Lord Ruthven, the villain protagonist of ''Literature/TheVampyre'' by Lord Byron's doctor Creator/JohnWilliamPolidori is said to be [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed modelled on Lord Byron]].
99	* "Missolonghi 1824", a short story by John Crowley anthologized in ''Poe's Children''
100	* ''Literature/TheAnubisGates'', a novel by Creator/TimPowers
101	* ''Literature/TheStressOfHerRegard'', a novel by Creator/TimPowers
102	* ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'', a novel by Susanna Clarke
103	* ''Literature/TheDifferenceEngine,'' a {{Steampunk}} novel by Creator/WilliamGibson and Creator/BruceSterling. In this one, he manages to survive the Greek War of Independence and becomes Prime Minister over a society that depends on the mechanical computers invented by Charles Babbage and the aforementioned Ada Lovelace.
104	* A computerized Byron features in ''Conversations with Lord Byron on Perversion, 163 Years After His Lordship's Death,'' a novel by Amanda Prantera
105	* ''The Missolonghi Manuscript,'' a novel by Frederic Prokosch
106	* Benjamin Markovits has published two novels of a trilogy about Lord Byron: ''Imposture'' and ''A Quiet Adjustment''
107	* ''Lord Byron's Doctor,'' a novel by Paul West
108	* Lady Caroline Lamb, mentioned above, published ''Glenarvon,'' a ''roman-a-clef'' about her affair with Byron
109	* An AlternateHistory analogue, John Byron III, appears in a flash-forward segment of ''Literature/LookToTheWest'' set in 1830.
110	* ''Literature/TheTwelfthEnchantment'' has Lord Byron involved in a magical conspiracy.
111	* He appears as a major character in the Regency era Steampunk thriller ''Moonlight, Murder & Machinery''.
112	* In the Literature/FatherBrown mystery ''The wrong Shape'', the culprit is a TotalitarianUtilitarian who murders his victim because it was the best course of action to everyone involved (even the victim), and then:
113	--> ''When I had done it, the extraordinary thing happened. Nature deserted me. I felt ill. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone I felt just as if I had done something wrong]]... [[WhatIsThisFeeling What is the matter with me?]]... [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Madness]]... [[WasItReallyWorthIt or can one have remorse]], just as if one were in [[ByronicHero Byron’s poems!]]''
114	* In ''[[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Anne of the Island]]'' a few lines from "The Isle of Greece" are quoted by the girls. They're all liberal arts college students, and Anne at least is majoring in English, so they'd be well read.
115	* The ''Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures'' novel ''Mangara'' features three clones of him, who take their identities from what one calls "the bleating of that Lamb": the vampiric Mad Byron, the sadistic and hedonistic Bad Byron, and the swashbuckling Dangerous Byron.
116
117	[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
118	* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}''. Appears in "Ink and Incapability" where he wears a big shirt and threatens to [[ReallyGetsAround kill everyone with syphilis]].
119	* ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_(film) Byron]]'' a BBC 2003 two-parter tells his story.
120	* ''Series/DoctorWho''. Appears in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E8TheHauntingOfVillaDiodati "The Haunting of Villa Diodati"]], in which [[AbhorrentAdmirer he annoys the Thirteenth Doctor]] and (at the end of the episode) quotes from ''Literature/{{Darkness}}'', foreshadowing the apocalyptic events to come.
121	* ''Series/HighlanderTheSeries''. The episode "The Modern Prometheus" has Byron as an Immortal.
122	* His famous words on freedom, "Yet Freedom, thy banner torn but flying, streams like the thunderstorm against the wind", serves as the motto, and title for the Australian TV series ''Series/AgainstTheWind'', produced in 1979, taking place in Byron´s lifetime (but mostly in Australia).
123	* A hologram of Byron appears once on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', trying to convince a hologram of UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. Gandhi responds by recommending that Byron take a cold bath instead.
124
125	[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]
126	* ''Theatre/{{Arcadia}}''
127	* He is referred to in the works of Creator/HenrikIbsen, and is one of the many candidates for modelling "the unknown passenger" in ''Theatre/PeerGynt''.
128
129	[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
130	* ''Webcomic/TheThrillingAdventuresOfLovelaceAndBabbage'', though only shows up in the first frame of Ada Lovelace's origin story. Still fitting, though, as he is Ada Lovelace's father.
131
132	[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
133	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'', he appeared to temporarily possess Billy when the [[ItMakesSenseInContext latter was sleepwalking and sucking on Grim's skull]] and act as a form of mentor.

Context Creator / LordByron