I think everyone knows about Byron. And if you don’t, it’s only a Wikipedia click away. So I won’t tell you about his life story or works, instead, I’ll review some sources that might be fun to read, or shed a new light.
To read about Byron in an unconventional way, you can read John Crowley’s “The Evening Land” (Amazon link) (I see the American cover has art by Friedrich, which is very curious indeed.) This book is about a lost manuscript by lord Byron (who all of a sudden wrote proze, apparently.) It was found by his daughter, Ada Lovelace, who said she destroyed it but actually wove it into a blanket, and wrote about it, in code. These writings are found by a girl who works in London, and writes emails to her father, with whom she does not have a very good relationship, and to her lesbian lover who is still in America. Confused yet? Yes, so was I, and after a while I started skipping the parts that are Byron’s story (they read a bit forced, like most things that use archaic words to sound authentic) and only read the emails, (which also read a bit forced, because one of them uses a ‘hip email language’ without an interpunction, that I don’t think anyone uses) because the story of the two girls was quite a bit more interesting. Actually, I must admit, I have yet to finish the book. But, it’s quit educational and gives you lots of Byron facts without really ‘teaching’ or being annoying about it.
After reading it, you might be up for a Byron fun facts in pop-quiz format:
Byron, the bad boy of poetry.
The evolution of comedy is an amazing – the history of the farce and the evolution of all the different genres of comedy , including poetic liberations, is truly revealing of the nature of the human psyche.
Could this form of poetry have been like the rap music of its day?
Absolutely! I’d even say Lord Byron was the Snoop Doggy Dog of the 19th century :D
I wrote briefly about Byron when I wrote about Lady Caroline Lamb. He’s fascinating as his family including Ada and Lady Anne Blunt.
Yes, there’s a lot of Byron-related topics to research, it’s positively fascinating! I always want to read more about Caroline Lamb, I might make a post on her some day.
Thank you for your comment! :)