The Scandalous Life of a Genius – Lord Byron

byron's name can easily be associated with the word genius during his short life of only 36 years spent in england and in self-imposed european exile byron produced some of the most beautiful poetry in the english language his lifestyle also made byron famous as he lived as he pleased being linked to many women thus becoming the subject of gossip and controversy following his first wife's death who left behind a daughter augusta john byron an officer in the british army met in 1785 miss catherine gordon she came from a wealthy family from scotland with ancestry dating back to james the first the couple had a son born to them on the 22nd of january 1788 in london the father abandoned his wife and their son george gordon being chased by his creditors and fleeing to france john byron briefly saw his son before going to france where he died in 1791. during his childhood byron lived in scotland with his mother he struggled with a physical malformation having been born with a club foot which affected his manner of walking his mother tried to employ different doctors in an attempt to help her son improve his condition whilst little byron had to endure torturing techniques meant to restore his foot this disability made byron always wanting to hide it when he was 10 years old he became the sixth baron baron by inheriting the title and newstead abbey from his great uncle one year later he started attending dullage boarding school in london and shortly after he was sent to harrow until 1805. although he lacked discipline and defied authority in school byron loved reading and his topics of interest were biographies history and philosophy about that byron said i read eating read in bed read when no one else reads sad to leave harrow in 1805 he started trinity college cambridge for three years not showing interest in studying there but wanting to go to oxford instead during his years at cambridge byron wanted to have a pet as company but rules didn't allow him to keep a dog so byron being the eccentric person that he was he decided to bring a tame bear instead in compliance with the rules at 19 lord byron published hours of idealness his first collection of poems but he received unfavorable criticism byron loved being active and he embraced life fully by gambling swimming boxing and drinking heavily two years later the poet took his seat in the house of lords but he was not interested in a political career as a poet byron's name became recognized after publishing the english bars and scotch reviewers a pivotal experience in the life of young byron was a two-year trip to portugal spain malta greece albania and turkey [Music] in a letter addressed to his mother on the eve of his departure from england in june 1809 byron said the world is all before me and i leave england without regret and without a wish to revisit anything it contains byron enjoyed this journey immensely and the freedom it brought to him which also inspired him to start working on child harold he also became a supporter of greece obtaining its independence from the ottomans although he wanted to go to egypt lack of money made him return to england where he arrived in the middle of july 1811 unfortunately for byron he could not get a new study in time to find his mother still alive although his relationship with his mother had not been entirely smooth byron was deeply affected by his mother's death he actually refused to attend the funeral being only able to stand by the gate of newstead watching the funeral procession at 23 he was left alone and devastated having lost his mother and two of his best friends charles matthews and wingfield in a letter to augusta his half-sister he expressed his disappointment with being in england saying shall leave england and all its clouds for the east again i am very sick of it already byron cultivated an image of himself where in society he would only eat hard biscuits and drink soda water when in fact he would dine on hearty meals in private he was a very handsome man and his physical beauty would impress anyone at 23 byron published child harald's pilgrimage which was very well received by the public from that moment on he became the talk of the regency society of england about his new status byron said i awoke one morning and found myself famous his poem proved to be an enormous success and byron was overwhelmed by invitations of well-known people of the fashionable london society he became a celebrity and all the ladies wanted to see him he was invited everywhere and he got involved in affairs with women of the aristocracy he had a string of affairs with lady caroline lam lady oxford and lady francis webster in the words of lady caroline lamb byron had become mad bad and dangerous to know with his mysterious image byron was always getting into scrapes because of his scandalous life but he did not have the slightest intention to change in a letter to augusta byron said for marriage i have neither the talent nor the inclination i cannot fortune hunt nor afford to marry without a fortune my parliamentary schemes are not much to my taste i spoke twice last session and was told it was well enough but i hate the thing altogether and have no intention to strut another hour on that stage i am thus wasting the best part of my life daily repenting and never amending his impressive pace of success was gathering momentum the jawa was published in may 1813 and the bride of abaddos later that year which according to byron took only two weeks work by 1814 the corsair was also published and was well received by the public and according to byron written from existence byron's hero was napoleon and found him a remarkable man when napoleon abdicated in april 1814 byron was shocked he said i don't know but i think i even i an insect compared with this creature have set my life on castes not a millionth part of these mans but after all a crown may not be worth dying for when in 1814 augusta gave birth to a daughter it was rumored that the real father was not her husband carnal lee but byron himself deciding what to do next he expressed his intentions in a letter to his sister saying bye bye i shall marry if i can find anything inclined to barter money for rank within six months following his second marriage proposal to miss annabella milbang she accepted and they married on the 2nd of january 1815. byron described his future wife as too good for a fallen spirit to know in a letter to caroline lamb he was well aware that his marriage was doomed from the start the couple's daughter augusta aida was born on the 10th of december 1815 but five weeks after that the mother took her daughter and left byram for good byron had financial problems he was being chased by his creditors and when his wife surprised byron together with an actress lady byron realized she could not tolerate his scandalous behavior anymore baron pleaded with his wife to renew their marriage but his wife rejected any other contact with him with his marriage in tatters reputation destroyed and financial affairs in ruins byron had one option left to leave england which he did in 1816 never to return he left for brussels paying a visit to waterloo and from there to switzerland where he started his friendship with a poet percy shelley shortly after arriving in switzerland he restarted his intimate relationship with miss claire claremont which resulted in the birth of a daughter allegra they actually met in london prior to his travels she was mary shelley's stepsister who actually convinced the shelleys to follow byron to switzerland during their time spent together in geneva they were reading german stories during a rainy week and mary shelley got the inspiration to ride frankenstein when the shellis went back to england in september byron went to visit mountains in switzerland from there he traveled to italy arriving in milan where he was impressed by the cathedral and later went to venice there he met mariana segati and they became intimate for 18 months baron felt he wanted to return to england but he started feeling unwell because of a fever and his plan was derailed byron's heart was still in england and his friends tried to convince him to return but he chose not to he remained in italy traveling to rome and from there to florence for the next two years byron spent his time drinking heavily and eating little while in venice when mariana segetti fell out of favor she was succeeded by marguerita connie who lived for a while with him during this time byron produced beppo matepa and the early books of don juan in the spring of 1818 his daughter allegra was sent from england to live with byron and he placed her into a catholic convent to be educated she died unfortunately four years later leaving the poet devastated in august when shelley came to visit him in venice he found byron looking fat and grey-haired byron had found new love with teresa guitiolo a beautiful young blonde of noble origins married to a man three times older than her byron became friends with teresa's father and brother and he got involved in the revolutionary society of carbonari byron loved liberty and denounced oppression he favored republics of monarchies for that reason he sustained the cause for a free italy unfortunately the insurrection was crushed in february 1821. in july 1822 byron received terrible news his friend shelly had died in a storm at sea he was utterly devastated for the next months he remained in italy continuing his work on don juan but soon he was eager for a change so the poet sailed to greece to join the war effort by delivering supplies to the greek for the last months of his life byron took part in the war of independence fought by the greeks to gain autonomy from the ottomans tragically in february 1824 byron was taken ill his life was cut short when he caught a fever that he couldn't shake off and on the 19th of april 1824 he died it is impossible to sum up byron's short-lived and stormy life but i think his own verses from don juan his masterpiece describe it very well some have accused me of a strange design against the creed and morals of the land and trace it in this poem every line i don't pretend that i quite understand my own meaning when i would be very fine but the fact is that i have nothing planned unless it were to be a moment mary a novel word in my vocabulary [Music] you

Channel: Lives & Histories

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Keywords: Lord Byron, Destiny, Napoleon, Regency England, Don Juan, Romantic poet, Percy Shelly, Frankenstein, Greek war of independence, Italy, Venice, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Celebrity, Mary Shelly, London

Id: Tt74v3waguI

Length: 14min 58sec (898 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021