- Introduction
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- Task
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Lord Byron was born in London in 1788 as George Gordon Noel Byron. His mother was Catherine Gordon of Gight, an heiress. She was emotionally unstable and would sometimes make fun of Byron and then sometimes love him too much. His father was Captain John Byron who had been married before and lost all of his fortune. He ran up so many bills that he had to leave England for good; he died at age thirty-six. His parents tended to be somewhat outrageous in their lifestyle. He was born with a clubbed footwhen the foot is twisted out of its normal shape, usually to the side like the head of a gold club that caused him a lot of suffering and embarrassment. In order to make himself feel better about it, he worked hard to become a great athlete. He was a swimmer, boxer, fencer, horseman, and cricket player.
His uncle died in 1798, and since his father was also dead, Byron inherited the throne when he was only ten years old. His official title was Baron Byron of Rochdale. Byron continued going to school and eventually attended college. While in college at Cambridge University, he fell in love with several different women and his studies were interrupted for a while. After graduating, he immersed himself in writing poetry and studying politics.
His poetry made him famous during his lifetime. He was such a Romantic poet, that he even influenced the fashion of the day and some art as well. His writings included so many variations that he was and is considered one of the most important figures in the British Romantic movement. One of the more popular techniques he used was apostrophe—addressing an absent person or a thing. When he was twenty-eight years old, he decided to leave England for good. He spent time in Switzerland and Italy. At thirty-six, he developed a fever and died soon after in 1824.
Read through several of Lord Byron’s poems.
Take some notes as you read so you will be ready for the Study Questions in the Task section.
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