Lord Byron was a famous British Romantic poet known for his amorous lifestyle and brilliant use of language. He endured an unstable childhood but found success with poetic works like Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. However, rumors of incest and bisexuality led to his self-imposed exile from England, after which he supported Greek independence and died in Greece at age 36, though remaining a celebrated and controversial figure.

1. Romantic Poet
Lord Byron
Poet, Playwright(1788-1824)
-by kavita pant

2. Lord Byron is regarded as one of the greatest
British poet and is best known for his amorous
lifestyle and his brilliant use of the English
language.
LORD
BYRON

3. INTRODUCTION
Born George Gordon Byron
22 January 1788
London, England
Occupation Poet, Politician
Alma mater Trinity college, Cambridge
Literary movement Romanticism
Notable work Don Juan
Manfred
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
Mazeppa
Died 19 April 1824(aged 36) Miss

4. EARLY LIFE
• George Gordon Byron was the sixth son of
captain John “Mad Jack” Byron and his second
wife, the former Catherine Gordon.
• As a young boy, George endured a father who
abandoned him, a schizophrenic mother and a
nurse who abused him and this result he lacked
discipline and a sense of moderation, traits which
he held on to his entire life.
• At age 10, George inherited the title of his great-
uncle, William Byron , and was officially
recognized as Lord Byron.

5. EARLY LIFE
John “Mad Jack” Byron Catherine Gordon

6. Education and Early Loves
• Byron received his early formal education at
Aberdeen Grammar School and Dr. William
Glennie.
• Later he attended Harrow school in London,
where he fell in love with his distant cousin ,
Mary Chaworth, and this unrequited love found
expression in several poems, including “Hills of
Anneley” and “The Adieu”.
• He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, where he
met and formed a close friendship with John Cam
Hobhouse and was initiated into liberal politics,
joining the Cambridge Whig club.

7. Early Travel and Writing
• After receiving a scathing review of his first
volume of poetry, Hours of Idleness, Byron
retaliated with the satirical poem “English Bards
and Scotch Reviewers”.
• Upon turning 21, Byron took his seat in the House
of Lords.
• During his journey Mediterranean and Aegean
seas, Portugal, Spain, , Greece and Turkey, he
filled with inspiration, he began writing “Childe
Harold’s Pilgrimage”, a poem of a young man’s
reflections on travel in foreign lands.

8. • Byron returned to London after the death of his
mother, and in spite of all her failings, her passing
plunged him into a deep mourning.
• High praise by London society pulled him out of his
doldrums, as did a series of love affairs, first with the
passionate and eccentric Lady Caroline Lamb and then
with Lady Oxford, who encouraged Byron's radicalism.
• He entered into an intimate relationship with his half
sister, Augusta, now married. The tumult and guilt he
experienced as a result of these love affairs were
reflected in a series of dark and repentant poems, "The
Giaour," "The Bride of Abydos" and "The Corsair."

9. • To escape the pressures of his amorous
entanglements, Byron proposed to the
educated and intellectual Anne Isabella
Milbanke. Later the ill-fated union crumbled,
and Annabella left Byron amid his drinking,
increased debt, and rumors of his relations
with his half sister and of his bisexuality. He
never saw his wife or daughter again.

10. Exile
• Byron left England, never to return. He
traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, befriending
Percy Bysshe Shelley. He wrote the third canto
to "Childe Harold," depicting his travels from
Belgium up the Rhine to Switzerland. On a
trip, Byron was inspired to write the Faustian
poetic-drama Manfred.

11. Last Heroic Adventure
• A restless Byron accepted an
invitation to support Greek
independence from the
Ottoman Empire.
• Byron spent 4,000 pounds of
his own money to refit the
Greek naval fleet and took
personal command of a
Greek unit of elite fighters.
• On February 15, 1824, he fell
ill. Doctors bled him, which
weakened his condition
further and likely gave him
an infection.

12. • Byron died on April 19, 1824, at age 36. He
was deeply mourned in England and became a
hero in Greece. His body was brought back to
England, but the clergy refused to bury him at
Westminster Abbey. Instead, he was buried in
the family vault near Newstead. In 1969, a
memorial to Byron was finally placed on the
floor of Westminster Abbey.

13. WORKS
• From his Presbyterian nurse Byron developed
a lifelong love for the Bible and an abiding
fascination with the Calvinist doctrines of
innate evil and predestined salvation.
• Early schooling instilled a devotion to reading
and especially about history.
• "ebullition of passion" for his cousin Margaret
Parker in 1800 inspired his "first dash into
poetry.“- "On the Death of a Young Lady"

14. • The poetry of Lord Byron is varied, but it tends to
address a few major themes like ‘love’, ‘liberty’.
• His characters and themes are highly autobiographical.
• Few works-
o “She Walks in Beauty” (1813)
o “When We Two Parted” (1816)
o “Darkness” (1816)
o “The Prisoner of Chillon” (1816)
o Don Juan (1824)
o Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812)

15. • His faceted personality found expression in
satire, verse narrative, ode, lyric, speculative
drama, historical tragedy, confessional poetry,
dramatic monologue, seriocomic epic, and
voluminous correspondence
• All of them written in Spenserian stanzas,
heroic couplets, blank verse, terza rima, ottava
rima, and vigorous prose.