UNIVERSITY OF BIHA PEDAGOGICAL FACULTY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

GEORGE GORDON NOEL BYRON

MENTOR: ore Slavni, Ph. D. SUBJECT: Romanticism in English literature

STUDENTS: Musli Melita Hairlahovi Emira

Biha, May 2012

Content:

1. Biography of George Gordon Noel Byron ............................................................3 1.1. Introduction......................................................................................................3 1.2. Early Work........................................................................................................3 1.3. Social life..........................................................................................................3 1.4. Travels of George Gordon Noel Byron............................................................4 1.5. His major works............................................................................................... 6 2. '' When we two parted '' poem...............................................................................7 2.1. Introduction into analysys................................................................................8 2.2. Structure of the poem.......................................................................................9 2.3. Rhetorical figures..............................................................................................9 2.4. Commentary....................................................................................................10 3. The most famous quotes of George Gordon Noel Byron......................................12 4. Conclusion.............................................................................................................14 5. Bibliography..........................................................................................................15

1.BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE GORDON NOEL BYRON

1.1Introduction The English poet George Gordon Noel Byron, was one of the most important figures of the romantic movement. Because of his works, active life, and physical beauty he came to be considered the personification of the romantic poet-hero. As a child he was known simply as George Noel Gordon. Born with a clubfoot, he was taken by his mother, Catherine Gordon, to Aberdeen, Scotland, where they lived in lodgings on a meager income. He attended the grammar school there. He was extremely sensitive of his lameness; its effect upon his character was obvious enough . It was rumored that his nurse, May Gray, made physical advances to him when he was only nine. This experience and his idealized love for his distant cousins Mary Duff and Margaret Parker shaped his paradoxical attitudes toward women.On the death of his granduncle in 1798, Byron inherited the title and estate. After 4 years at Harrow (1801-1805), he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became conscious for the first time of the discrepancy between the lofty aspirations of idealism and the petty realities of experience. His obstinate quest for some genuine passion among the frail women of this world accounts for the crowded catalog of his amours. 1.2.Early Works In 1807 Byron's juvenilia were collected under the title Hours of Idleness; although the little book exhibited only the milder forms of romantic Weltschmerz, it was harshly criticized by the Edinburgh Review. In 1809 a 2-year trip to the Mediterranean countries provided material for the first two cantos of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Their publication in 1812 earned Byron instant glory, as they combined the more popular features of the late-18th-century romanticism: colorful descriptions of exotic nature, disillusioned meditations on the vanity of earthly things, a lyrical exaltation of freedom, and above all, the new hero, handsome and lonely, somberly mysterious, yet strongly impassioned for all his weariness with life. 1.3.Social Life While his fame was spreading, Byron was busy shocking London high society. After his affairs with Lady Caroline Lamb and Lady Oxford, his incestuous and adulterous love for his half sister Augusta not only made him a reprobate, but also crystallized the sense of guilt and
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doom to which he had always been prone. From then on, the theme of incest was to figure prominently in his writings, starting with the epic tales that he published between 1812 and 1816: The Giaour, The Bride of Abydos, The Corsair, Lara, The Siege of Corinth, and Parisina. Incestuous love, criminal although genuine and irresistible, was a suitable metaphor for the tragic condition of man, who is cursed by God, rebuked by society, and hated by himself because of sins for which he is not responsible. The tales, therefore, add a new dimension of depth to the Byronic hero: in his total alienation he now actively assumes the tragic fatality which turns natural instinct into unforgivable sin, and he deliberately takes his rebellious stance as an outcast against all accepted notions of the right order of things. While thus seeking relief in imaginative exploration of his own tortured mind, Byron had been half hoping to find peace and reconciliation in a more settled life. But his marriage to Anna Isabella Milbanke (Jan. 1, 1815) soon proved a complete failure, and she left him after a year. London society could have ignored the peculiarities of Byron's private life, but a satire against the Prince Regent, "Stanzas to a Lady Weeping," which he had appended to The Corsair, aroused hysterical abuse from the Tories, in whose hands his separation from his wife became an efficient weapon. On April 25, 1816, Byron had to leave his native country, never to return. 1.4.His Travels In Switzerland, Byron spent several months in the company of the poet Shelley, resuming an agitated and unenthusiastic affair with the latter's sister-in-law, Clare Clairmont. Under Shelley's influence he read Wordsworth and imbibed the high-flown but uncongenial spirituality which permeates the third canto of Childe Harold. But The Prisoner of Chillon and Byron's first drama, Manfred, took the Byronic hero to a new level of inwardness: his greatness now lies in the steadfast refusal to bow to the hostile powers that oppress him, whether he discovers new selfhood in his very dereliction or seeks in self-destruction the fulfillment of his assertiveness. In October 1816 Byron left for Italy and settled in Venice, where he spent many days and nights in unprecedented debauchery. His compositions of 1817, however, show signs of a new outlook. The fourth canto of Childe Harold does not reject the cosmic pessimism of Manfred, but the mood of shrill revolt is superseded by a tone of resigned acceptance, and sizable sections of the poem are devoted to the theme of political freedom and national independence.
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Equally significant of Byron's renewed ability to face the world in laughter rather than in anger is the witty, good-humored satire of Beppo, which should be considered a preparation for Don Juan, begun in September 1818. Spontaneous maturation had thus paved the way for the healing influence of Teresa Guiccioli, Byron's last love, whom he met in April 1819. The poet had at last begun to come to terms with his desperate conception of life, to the extent of being able to debunk all shams and to parody all posturing, including his own, in Don Juan, the unfinished masterpiece on which he was to work till the end of his life. But this new balance also found serious utterance in Cain, the best of the plays that he wrote in 1821. It is a closely argued dramatic restatement of Byron's lasting creed that as the universe is swayed by a loveless God, the only greatness to which man can aspire lies in his foredoomed struggle for reason and justice. Marino Faliero illustrates the same pattern in the field of action, exalting the selflessness of the man who sacrifices his life in the service of popular freedom. It is characteristic of Byron's integrity that he increasingly sought to translate his ideas into action, repeatedly voicing the more radical Whig viewpoint in the House of Lords in 18121813, running real risks to help the Italian Carbonari in 1820-1821, and collaborating with Leigh Hunt in launching the Liberal in 1822. His early poetry had contributed to sensitizing the European mind to the plight of Greece under the Turkish yoke. In 1824 Byron joined the Greek liberation fighters at Missolonghi, where he died of malarial fever on April 19. 1

The Cambridge History of English Romantic Literature,James Chandler,March 2009; Cambridge University Press

1.5.His major works

Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Cantos I & II (1812) The Giaour (1813) The Bride of Abydos (1813) The Corsair (1814) Lara, A Tale (1814) Hebrew Melodies (1815) The Siege of Corinth (1816) Parisina (1816) The Prisoner of Chillon (1816) The Dream (1816) Prometheus (1816) Darkness (1816) Manfred (1817) (text on Wikisource) The Lament of Tasso (1817) Beppo (1818) Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1818) Don Juan (18191824; incomplete on Byron's death in 1824) Mazeppa (1819) The Prophecy of Dante (1819) Marino Faliero (1820) Sardanapalus (1821) The Two Foscari (1821) Cain (1821) The Vision of Judgment (1821) Heaven and Earth (drama)|Heaven and Earth (1821) Werner (1822) The Age of Bronze (1823) The Island (1823) The Deformed Transformed (1824)

''When we two parted ( analysis )

When we two parted In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted, To sever for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold, Colder thy kiss; Truly that hour foretold Sorrow to this. The dew of the morning Sank chill on my brow It felt like the warning Of what I feel now. Thy vows are all broken, And light is thy fame: I hear thy name spoken, And share in its shame. They name thee before me, A knell to mine ear; A shudder comes o'er me Why wert thou so dear? They know not I knew thee, Who knew thee too well: Long, long shall I rue thee Too deeply to tell. In secret we met In silence I grieve That thy heart could forget, Thy spirit deceive. If I should meet thee After long years, How should I greet thee? With silence and tears.

2.1.INTRODUCTION INTO ANALYSIS When we two parted is a poem of George Gordon Byron written in 1808 and published in 1813 in The poetical works of Lord Byron. Byron was a romantic poet, his writings develops a Romantic style as distinctive and as influential as Wordsworths works, one of the most representative romantic writers. Byrons romantic subjectivity defines itself in spectacular terms, this subjectivity has been criticized as too theatrical by John Keats. But for other poets like Baudelaire, that theatrical style defined Byrons greatness as a lyric poet.2 Lord Byron has a wonderful collection of poetic works, he started writing in 1806 to his death in 1824. Through this years he made a lot of famous works such as Child Harolds Pilgrimage, Don Juan or Manfred. The main characteristic of Byrons poems is its strenght and masculinity, combined in a lot of cases with irony. In the case of the poem I have choosen, When we two parted is a poem of heart broken, expressing strong feelings in a simple but full of meaning vocabulary, such as in other poems like So well no go more a roving.3

Cambridge Companion. Byron.2004. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gordon_Byron_6th_Baron_Byron

2.2.STRUCTURE OF THE POEM The poem is divided in four stanzas and each one in eight verses. The rhyme used by Byron follows this structure:ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MNMN KBKB. Separating each stanza in four verses, we have the rhyme more clear, each even verse and each odd verse rhyme with its equivalent even or odd verse. This structure gives to the poem a lot of rythm, giving the sensation of musicality. 2.3.RHETORICAL FIGURES In this poem it is too difficult to find rhetorical figures, due to the most important of all the poem is the strength of the words. Despite of this, it can be seen, for example, in the third line a metaphor: half broken-hearted; the poet is expressing us how he and his lover feel when they are two parted. Another striking thing found in the poem is the second part of the fourth stanza. It is the only stanza which repeats the rhyme of other verses and not just the rhyme, but the word itself. E.g. (4) To sever for years/ (30)After long years. If we pay attention, there is also a correspondence of meaning, in the first stanza Byron is telling they are going to sever for years and in the last stanza he is thinking of what he will do when they remeet. With the other two verses is the same, at the first part: (2)In silence and tears is how they react when they are two parted, and in the last part of the poem: (32)With silence and tears is how he is going to have to greet her since they did not meet.

2.4.COMMENTARY The poem is divided in four stanzas, and each stanza talks about different visions of this love separation. On the whole, the poem is all the time giving the feeling of the pain that the poet has due to the separation of the two lovers; what we cannot know is if the separation is because of death or maybe because she split up with him. In the first stanza the poet begins with the main topic, remembering the separation of the two lovers, how they felt: half broken-hearted , showing his pain. Also he expresses the idea of what we think that this separation is due to the death of his lover with the metaphor of : Pale grew thy cheek and cold,/colder thy kiss. All that sorrounds her is cold, and this cold is a perfect form to express the death in contrast with the warm involving the life. Following with the poem, in the second stanza it can be found the relation of colder morning with the pain that the poet is feeling. Also another time we can see that his lover is dead: thy vows are all broken. Then, it follow with the shame that feels the poet when he hears her name; maybe shame because their relation was a sin. This idea will be developed later with some comments of people that she was a married woman. The third stanza contains strong vocabulary showing again that she is dead: A knell to mine ear; A shudder comes oer me..Also he asked himself why he loved her so, and people who knew her well do not know any relation between them. Maybe that people who knew her well could be her family and husband. At the last stanza the poet is remembering when they met and transmits us a feeling of hope: If I should meet thee. Maybe life exists before death and they can reopen their love, and the poet also tell us how they greet: With silence and tears. Some researches say that the person who was addressed this poem is Lady Frances Webster (married woman) and a last stanza was left out to keep the identity of the woman a secret. It was discover when Byron wrote a letter to his cousin Lady Hardy giving her of the last stanza:

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Then --- fare thee well --- Fanny --Now doubly undone --To prove false unto many --As faithless to One --Thou art past all recalling Even would I recall --For the woman once falling Forever must fall.
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3.THE MOST FAMOUS QUOTES OF GEORGE GORDON NOEL BYRON: ''A woman who gives any advantage to a man may expect a lover but will sooner or later find a tyrant.'' ''All farewells should be sudden, when forever.'' ''But words are things, and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think.'' ''Cervantes smiled Spain's chivalry away; A single laugh demolished the right arm Of his country.'' ''Every day confirms my opinion on the superiority of a vicious life, and if Virtue is not its own reward, I don't know any other stipend annexed to it.'' ''For what were all these country patriots born? To hunt, and vote, and raise the price of corn?'' ''Her great merit is finding out mine; there is nothing so amiable as discernment.'' ''I am sure of nothing so little as my own intentions.'' ''I shall soon be six-and-twenty. Is there anything in the future that can possibly console us for not being always twenty-five?'' ''I slept and dreamt that life was beauty; I woke and found that life was duty.'' ''I would rather have a nod from an American, than a snuff- box from an emperor.'' ''If I am fool, it is, at least, a doubting one; and I envy no one the certainty of his selfapproved wisdom.''

http://readytogoebooks.com/LB-WTP-P57.html

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''It is useless to tell one not to reason but to believe; you might as well tell a man not to wake but sleep.'' ''It is very iniquitous to make me pay my debts, you have no idea of the pain it gives one.'' ''Lovers may be and indeed generally are enemies, but they never can be friends, because there must always be a spice of jealousy and a something of Self in all their speculations.'' ''Nothing can confound a wise man more than laughter from a dunce.'' ''Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure; men love in haste but they detest at leisure.'' ''Opinions are made to be changed or how is truth to be got at? '' ''Romances I ne'er read like those I have seen.'' ''Self-love for ever creeps out, like a snake, to sting anything which happens to stumble upon it.''
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http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_byron.html#ixzz1HjqWIFZJ

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CONCLUSION Altough Byron's work was widely criticised on moral grounds and frequently attacked by critics, it was immensely popular in England and the rest of Europe; his sales were better in Germany and France than in Britain. As a Romantic icon his importance was enormous. Byron embodied the Romantic spirit and gave it recognisable face. He left behind him the enduring image of the Byronic hero: a gloomy, unsatisfied social oucast, wanderer in foreign lands, a fighter against social injustice, who in his quest for self- realisation, refuses to accept social codes and conventions.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-The Cambridge History of English Romantic Literature,James Chandler,March 2009; Cambridge University Press -web pages:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Gordon_Byron_6th_Baron_Byron http://readytogoebooks.com/LB-WTP-P57.html http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_byron.html#ixzz1HjqWIFZJ

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