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Brief biography of Byron. George Byron - biography, information, personal life George Gordon Byron biography

George Noel Gordon Byron (1788–1824)

Romantic poet, thinker, member of the House of Lords. Byron belonged to an aristocratic but impoverished family; ten years after the death of his grandfather, he inherited the title of lord.
As a student at Cambridge University, he published the collection Leisure Hours (1807), and his fame was brought to him by the poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, published in separate editions from 1812 to 1818.

His poems and poems convey a complex, changeable range of feelings: from reckless rebellion to despair caused by the omnipotence of “darkness”.

Byron's conflict with conformist English society, which began after his poetic debut, aggravated his extremely unsuccessful marriage with Annabela Milbank. In January 1816, she left Byron because of his “terrible habits,” by which she meant rejection of any orthodoxy, including indisputable moral prohibitions. The scandal was fueled by unfounded rumors about the poet’s more than kindred feelings for his half-sister Augusta Lee. She was the recipient of several of his most heartfelt poems.

In May 1816, Byron was forced to leave his homeland - as it turned out, forever. The shock he experienced became an “eternal poison” that poisoned his life in the remaining years. It left its mark on the tone of the cycle of poems “Jewish Melodies” (1815), which echoes the metaphors of the Bible, the poem “The Prisoner of Chillon” (1816), the dramatic mysteries “Manfred” (1817) and “Cain” (1821) G.).

Byron's poems, constructed as a lyrical confession of a character combining the traits of an extraordinary personality and a type that testifies to the beliefs and illnesses of the era, became a literary event.

In Switzerland, where the first months of exile passed, and then in Italy, Byron experienced a creative upsurge, starting in the fall of 1817 with the poetic chronicle “Don Juan.” Passionate love for Countess Teresa Guiccioli, deprived of the opportunity to unite her fate with Byron, contributed to the poet’s rapprochement with the Carbonari and active participation, together with her father and brothers, in the Italian liberation movement. With the outbreak of the Greek uprising against Ottoman rule, Byron subordinated his life to the struggle for the liberation of Hellas, using his own funds to assemble and arm a detachment with which he arrived at the scene of events.

His untimely death, the result of a developing fever, was mourned by all of advanced Europe.

Gordon- Byron's second personal name, given to him at baptism and coinciding with his mother's maiden name. Byron's father, however, in laying claim to his father-in-law's Scottish possessions, used "Gordon" as the second part of his surname (Byron-Gordon), and George himself was enrolled at school under the same double surname. At the age of 10, after the death of his great-uncle, George became a peer of England and received the title " Baron Byron", after which, as is customary among peers of this rank, his usual everyday name became “ Lord Byron" or simply " Byron" Subsequently, Byron's mother-in-law bequeathed property to the poet with the condition that he bear her surname - Noel(Noel), and by royal patent Lord Byron was allowed, as an exception, to bear the surname Noel before his title, which he did, sometimes signing himself “Noel-Byron.” Therefore, in some sources his full name may look like George Gordon Noel Byron, although he never signed with all these names and surnames at the same time.

Biography

Origin

The poet's father, Captain John Byron (1755-1791), first married a divorced woman with whom he fled to France, and the second time he married only for money, to pay his debts, and, having squandered his wife's fortune, abandoned her. His great-uncle, that is, his father's uncle, after whom Byron inherited the title of lord, killed his neighbor and relative Chaworth while drunk, was tried for this, although he was acquitted, but, persecuted by public opinion and remorse, locked himself in his castle of Newstead, who had already begun to fall into disrepair, and led such an unaffordable life in solitude that he was nicknamed “bad Lord Byron.” Byron's grandfather, an admiral, was nicknamed "Foulweather Jack" and led the same restless life at sea as his grandson, the poet, led on land. Byron's more distant ancestors were distinguished by their bravery in various wars in England.

Childhood

The poverty into which Byron was born, and from which the title of lord did not relieve him, gave direction to his future career. When he was born (on Hall Street in London, January 22, 1788), his father had already sold out all his lands, and his mother returned from Europe with small remnants of her fortune. Lady Byron settled in Aberdeen, and her “lame boy,” as she called her son, was sent to a private school for a year, then transferred to a classical grammar school. Many stories are told about Byron's childhood antics. The Gray sisters, who nursed little Byron, found that with affection they could do anything with him, but his mother always lost her temper at his disobedience and threw anything at the boy. He often responded to his mother’s outbursts with ridicule, but one day, as he himself says, the knife with which he wanted to stab himself was taken away. He studied poorly at the gymnasium, and Mary Gray, who read psalms and the Bible to him, brought him more benefit than the gymnasium teachers. In May, having become a peer, ten-year-old Byron fell so much in love with his cousin Mary Duff that, upon hearing about her engagement, he fell into a hysterical fit. In the city, he entered Dr. Gleny's school, where he stayed for two years and spent the entire time treating his sore leg, after which he recovered so much that he could put on boots. During these two years he studied very little, but he read the entire rich library of the doctor. Before leaving for school at Harrow, Byron fell in love again - with another cousin, Margarita Parker, and while waiting for a date with her, he could neither eat nor sleep. In 1801 he went to Harrow; dead languages ​​and antiquity did not attract him at all, but he read all the English classics with great interest and left school with great knowledge. At school, he was famous for his chivalrous relations with his comrades and for the fact that he always stood up for the younger ones. During the holidays, he fell in love again, but this time much more seriously than before - with Miss Chaworth, a girl whose father was killed by the “bad Lord Byron”. In the sad moments of his life, he often regretted that she had rejected him.

Youth and the beginning of creativity

Savor

Marriage, divorce and scandal

Lady Byron

Byron lived with the Countess before his departure to Greece and wrote a lot during this time. The following works appeared during this happy period of his life: “The First Song of Morgante Maggiora” (g.); "Dante's Prophecy" (g.) and transl. “Francesca da Rimini” (g.), “Marino Faliero” (g.), the fifth canto of “Don Juan” (g.), “Sardanapalus” (g.), “Letters to Bauls” (g.), “ The Two Foscari" (g.), "Cain" (g.), "Vision of the Last Judgment" (g.), "Heaven and Earth" (g.), "Werner" (g.), sixth, seventh and eighth cantos "Don Juan" (in February); the ninth, tenth and eleventh songs of “Don Juan” (in August); “The Bronze Age” (g.), “Island” (g.), the twelfth and thirteenth songs of “Don Juan” (g.).

Trip to Greece and death

Byron on his deathbed

A calm, family life did not save him, however, from melancholy and anxiety. He enjoyed all the pleasures too greedily and soon became satiated. Having drunk on fame, he suddenly began to imagine that he had been forgotten in England, and at the end of the year he began negotiations to publish, together with Shelley, the English magazine Liberal, which, however, ceased after three issues. In part, however, Byron did begin to lose his popularity, but, fortunately for him, the Greek uprising broke out at this time. Byron, after preliminary contacts with the Philhellen committee formed in England for the purpose of assisting Greece, decided to go to Greece and with passionate impatience began to prepare for his departure. He collected money, bought an English brig, and, taking supplies, weapons and people, sailed to Greece on July 14. Nothing was ready there, and besides, the leaders of the movement did not get along very well with each other. Meanwhile, costs grew, and Byron ordered the sale of all his property in England, and gave the money to the Greek cause. Every success of the Greeks pleased him.

Lord Byron's eldest grandson, Noel, was born on May 12, served briefly in the English fleet, and after a wild and disorderly life died on October 1. as a worker in one of the London docks. The second grandson, Ralph Gordon Noel Milbank, was born on July 2, and after the death of his brother, who shortly before his death inherited the barony of Wintworth from his grandmother, became Lord Wentworth.

• A crater on Mercury is named after Byron.

Byron's works in other forms of art

Screen adaptations and films based on works

Musical Theatre

• - “Corsair” (ballet), composer G. Gdrich
• - “The Two Foscari” (opera), composer G. Verdi
• - “The Corsair” (opera), composer G. Verdi
• - “Geda” (opera), composer Z. Fibich

Literature about Byron in Russian

Biographies and biographies

• A. Maurois “Byron” (Works in 5 volumes, vol. I. Byron, ed. O. Fedorova, technical editor. E. Polyakova, publishing house “LEXICA” Moscow)
• "Macaulay on Lord B." (“Russian West.”, vol. V, book II);
• T. Moore, “The Life of Lord Byron” (ed. N. Tiblen and Dumshin, ed. Wolf, St. Petersburg, g.);
• "Lord B." (“Essays on England”, published by Wolf, St. Petersburg, Russia);
• A. S. Pushkin, “About Byron” (5th volume of his “Works”, General edition for the benefit of literary and scientific needs, St. Petersburg,);
• “New information about B’s marital relations.” (“Otech. Zap.”, No. 1);
• P. Weinberg, “Byron” (“European classics” in Russian translation, with notes and biographies, issue VIII, St. Petersburg, );
• O. Miller, “The Fate of Lord B.” (“Western Heb.”, books 2 and 4); I. Sherr, “Lord Byron” (biographical sketch in Gerbel, vol. I, g.);
• V. Spasovich, “Centenary anniversary of Lord B.” (“Pantheon of Literature”, 18 8 8, No. 2, from Polish);
• Georg Brandes, "B. and his works" (translated by I. Gorodetsky, "Pant. Liter.", No. 3, 4 and 5);
• V. Spasovich, “Byronism in Pushkin and Lermontov. From the era of romanticism” (“Bulletin of Europe”, No. 3 and 4).
• M. Kurginyan, “George Byron. Critical-biographical essay" - Moscow, 216 p.

Translations of Byron into Russian

Soviet stamp for the 200th anniversary of Byron

It is difficult to point to any journal in Russian literature that would not devote space to one or another of B.'s works. Almost all Russian poets, starting from the 20s, translated B.; but these translations, scattered in magazines and individual publications of our poets, remained inaccessible to the Russian reading public. N.V. Gerbel filled this gap. With an experienced hand, he collected all the best and published it in - gg. in St. Petersburg 5 volumes entitled: “B. translated by Russian poets"; The 2nd edition followed in - gg., 4 vols., St. Petersburg, and in - gg. The 3rd edition was published, 3 volumes with bibliographical lists at the end of each book and a biography of B., written by I. Sherr. Here are collected the poetic works of B. translated by the best Russian poets: Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Batyushkov, Lermontov, Maykov, Meiya, Fet, Pleshcheev, Shcherbina, Gerbel, P. Weinberg, D. Minaev, Ogarev and many others. etc. Translations not included in Gerbel:

• “The Prisoner of Chillon” - V. Zhukovsky;
• “Gyaur” - M. Kachenovsky (“Bulletin of Europe”, No. 15, 16 and 17, prose translation);
• N. R. (Moscow, in verse);
• A. Voeikova (“News Liter.”, September and October, prose translation);
• E. Michel (St. Petersburg, prose);
• V. Petrova (original size, St. Petersburg, );
• "Sea Robber"(Corsair) - A. Voeikova (“New lit.”, Oct. and Nov.; January, prose);
• V. Olina (St. Petersburg, prose);
• "Mazepa"- M. Kachenovsky (prose, “Selection from Lord B.”);
• A. Voeikova (“Literary News”, November, prose);
• J. Grota (“Contemporary”, vol. IX);
• I. Gognieva (“Repertoire and Pantheon”, No. 10; reprinted in the “Dramatic Collection”, city, book IV);
• D. Mikhailovsky (“Sovremennik”, No. 5);
• "Beppo"- V. Lyubich-Romanovich (“Son of the Fatherland”, No. 4, free translation);
• D. Minaeva (“Sovremennik”, No. 8);
• "The Bride of Abydos"- M. Kachenovsky (“Bulletin of Hebrews,” No. 18, 19 and 20, prose);
• I. Kozlov (St. Petersburg, , poems, reprinted in his “Poems”);
• M. Politkovsky (Moscow, rework);
• "Childe Harold"- the only complete translation was made by D. Minaev (“Russian Word”,

D. G. BYRON

George Noel Gordon Byron(1788-1824) was born in London on January 22, 1788. He belonged to an old aristocratic family.

After graduating from university and reaching adulthood, Byron decided to take a long trip through the countries of the Mediterranean basin (Portugal * Spain, Greece, Albania and Turkey). Byron recorded the rich impressions he received during the journey in a poetic diary, which served as the basis for his poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.” After returning home, Byron began to take an active part in the political life of his country. He made two speeches in the House of Lords in which he condemned the anti-people policies of the ruling Tory party. In his first speech, he protested against the death penalty for the Luddites, threatening the ruling class with punishment for their inhuman cruelty towards people “whose whole guilt is that they want work and bread for their families.” In the second speech, Byron defended the Irish Catholic peasants, reduced to abject poverty by centuries of colonial oppression. Byron demanded independence for Ireland. Both of Byron's speeches made a strong impression in parliament, but had no practical result.

In 1815, Byron married Annabella Milbank, who seemed to him the embodiment of female beauty, charm and high spiritual qualities. Soon, however, it turned out that Annabella was unable to understand her husband's aspirations. Believing the slander about Byron's allegedly immoral behavior spread about him by secular gossips, a year after the wedding she demanded a divorce.

The ruling circles used this incident to accuse Byron of “immorality”, of “desecrating the sanctity of the family hearth”, etc.; A vicious campaign of slander was organized against the poet. Soon the persecution became so unbearable that Byron was forced to leave England forever.

Byron spent 1816 in Switzerland, near Lake Geneva. Here he met another genius of English poetry - Shelley. In October 1816, the poet left Geneva and arrived in Venice a few days later. The most fruitful period of his work begins in Italy.

In April 1819, Byron met Countess Teresa Guiccioli, whose brother and father (the Counts of Gamba) were members of the secret political society of the Carbonari. Through them, Byron penetrates the secret organizations of this society, which was then preparing for an armed struggle for the freedom of Italy, which suffered under the yoke of the Austrian occupiers.

Byron's house in Ravenna became a secret weapons warehouse and the underground headquarters of the conspirators. The poet systematically transferred considerable sums of money earned through literary work to the Carbonari organization. The heyday of Byron's work coincides with the years of the highest activity of the Carbonari movement. The poet was inspired by the victories of the Neapolitan revolutionaries, who overthrew their king in 1820 and proclaimed a democratic republic; he had high hopes for the uprisings in the papal states (1820) and the revolution in Piedmont (1821). However, these revolutions ended in defeat. Repression followed from the Austrian occupation authorities and the papal administration. Byron had to leave Ravenna.

After the defeat of the Carbonari movement, Byron, together with Shelley and journalist Leigh Hunt, is preparing the publication of a radical magazine. This magazine was published only after Shelley's death. It contained Byron's most acute satirical works - "The Vision of Judgment" and "The Bronze Age".

In 1823, Byron arrived in Missolonghi. The vigorous activity of Byron begins - military leader, diplomat, tribune. In the last months of his life, the poet, due to lack of time, writes little, but the few lines that were created by him are imbued with high civic pathos.

Suddenly the poet was struck down by illness: he caught a cold during a trip to the mountains. On April 19, 1824 he died. Byron's heart was buried in Greece, and his ashes were transported to his homeland and buried near his beloved Newstead Abbey. Greece honored Byron's memory with national mourning; all progressive people in England and throughout the world responded to this bereavement. Goethe dedicated beautiful poems to him in the second part of Faust; Ryleev, Kuchelbecker and Pushkin wrote heartfelt lines on the occasion of his death.

Byron's work, based on the nature of the works he created in different years of his life, can be divided into two periods: 1807-1816. and 1817-1824 In the first period of his creativity, Byron was still under the influence of English classicist poetry. In the second period, he appears as a completely original romantic poet. However, the features of classicism in Byron's work persisted throughout his life.

Byron is one of the greatest lyric poets in world literature. The national liberation movements of the peoples of Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece and Albania, as well as the first mass demonstrations of English workers, are the soil on which his rebellious art grows.

At the same time, there are paradoxical contradictions in Byron's worldview and creativity.

Along with angry satirical denunciations of the vices of the ruling classes and calls for revolutionary struggle, Byron’s poetry contains motifs of disappointment and “world sorrow.”

The combination of such contradictory moments in the work of the great poet should be explained based on the specific historical conditions in which he lived and worked. V. G. Belinsky deeply appreciated the significance of Byron’s work, pointing out the complexity and ambiguity of the position of Byron the romantic and Byron the thinker, who became a symbol of all romantic art.

The collection of poems "Leisure Hours" (1807) is Byron's first literary experience. In this collection, the young poet is still influenced by his favorite images of English poetry of the 18th century. Either he imitates the elegies of Gray (the poem “Lines written under an elm tree in the cemetery in Garrow”), or the poetry of Burns (“I want to be a free child ...”), but the influence of the didactic poetry of the classicists is especially strongly felt in Byron’s early works (the poem “To the Death of Mr. Fox”, etc.). At the same time, in some other early poems the poetic individuality of the future creator of “Cain” and “Prometheus” is already beginning to show itself. This is evidenced by the sometimes manifested passion and deep lyricism of some lines. The author of “Leisure Hours” speaks contemptuously of the “secular mob”, of “swaggering nobility” and wealth.

Byron's poems were noticed by the public. However, a literary critic from the Edinburgh Review, an influential liberal magazine, gave them a negative review. The poet responded to it with the satire “English Bards and Scottish Observers” (1809), which is considered to be Byron’s first mature work, although not entirely free from imitation of classicist poetics. This satire was also a literary manifesto of English romanticism. Byron sharply criticized all recognized literary authorities in it. He ridiculed the older romantics - Southey, Wordsworth, Coleridge, the author of Gothic novels Lewis, etc. However, Byron spoke not only with an assessment of contemporary English literature; he spoke with praise of Sheridan (the creator of a wonderful satirical and everyday comedy), of the democratic poets Rogers and Campbell (for their loyalty to the civic ideals of the 18th century Enlightenment), as well as of the realist poet Crabbe.

Byron believed that a writer should be “closer to life” and must overcome antisocial, religious and mystical sentiments that cover only “naked selfishness and tyranny.” Byron called for creative use of folk poetry, speaking in a language understandable to ordinary people.

In 1812, the first two songs of the lyric-epic poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” appeared, which was created over several years. However, we will look at all four of her songs at once, written at different times, since both thematically and in their genre characteristics they form one inextricable whole.

The poem "Childe Harold" made a huge impression not only on the English reading public, but also on all the progressive people of Europe. In 1812 alone, it went through five editions, which was an exceptional phenomenon at that time.

The secret of the poem’s enormous success among his contemporaries was that the poet touched upon the most “thorny issues of the time” and in a highly poetic form reflected the mood of disappointment that spread widely after the collapse of the freedom-loving ideals of the French Revolution. “Why rejoice that the lion was killed,” we read in the third song of the poem regarding Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, “if we have once again become prey to wolves?” The slogans of “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”, inscribed on the banners of the Great French Revolution, in practice resulted in the suppression of the individual, the era of political reaction and the Napoleonic wars. "Childe Harold" reflected an entire era in the spiritual life of English and European society.

In the first song of the poem, Byron, after a series of abstract discussions about human nature, approaches the same point of view on which the French enlighteners themselves stood: he sees the only reason for the unreasonableness and injustice of social relations in European post-revolutionary society in the ignorance, cruelty, and cowardice that prevail everywhere , slavish obedience.

Like the Enlightenment, Byron argues in the first song that people can rationally transform outdated public institutions.

However, little by little (in the second, and then more definitely in the third canto of the poem) he comes to the conclusion that moral depravity cannot be the main cause of poverty and degradation of the poorest classes of European nations. In the end, the poet comes to deny the teachings of the Enlightenment that everything comes down to the conscious activity of the individual in state life; he argues that the fate of individual people and entire nations also depends on some objective pattern, which he calls “harsh fate” * .

[* See: Kurginyan M. S. George Byron. M., 1958.]

Unable to explain or predict the pattern with which this fate manifests itself, Byron announces in the third song about its hostility to the human race: gloomy and tragic notes of doom appear in the poem. However, the poet does not even think of preaching submission, apathy, or non-resistance. Once again overcoming despondency and despair, he calls for a fight against all manifestations of political tyranny and social oppression.

In the fourth song, the poet expresses his optimistic confidence that the laws of history work for the benefit of peoples.

Inspired by the revolutionary sentiments that dominated Italian society in the early 20s, Byron expresses the hope that “good changes” will soon occur in the world, and that the collapse of the bloc of police states - the Holy Alliance - is inevitable.

From the first lines, the reader is presented with the image of a young man who has lost faith in life and people. It is characterized by spiritual emptiness, disappointment, anxiety and a painful desire for endless wanderings. Under the feigned guise of cold indifference hides a “fatal and fiery play of passions.”

He “throws away his ancestral castle,” boards a ship and leaves his homeland; he is drawn to the East, to the wonderful shores of the Mediterranean Sea, to the magical southern countries. Childe Harold's "farewell" to his homeland is one of the most moving parts of the poem. Here the deep spiritual drama of the hero is revealed with enormous lyrical power:

I trust the wind and the wave,

I'm alone in the world.

Who can remember me

Who could I remember?

(Translated by V. Levik)

Ordinary prosaic reality did not satisfy the hero, but, faced with a new experience - the events of the liberation war unfolding before his eyes in Spain, Harold can perceive it only as an observer. Proud loneliness, melancholy - this is the bitter lot. Sometimes a turning point in Harold’s consciousness is only outlined:

But Childe carried away a dull pain in his heart,

And his thirst for pleasure has cooled,

And often the shine of his sudden tears

Only indignant pride extinguished.

(Translated by Levika)

And yet, individualism is Harold’s main distinguishing feature, which is especially emphasized by Byron in the third song of the poem, written during a period of creativity when the poet was already definitely questioning the “heroism” of his romantic character.

The positive in the image of Harold is his irreconcilable protest against any oppression, deep disappointment in the ideals prepared for him, a constant spirit of search and a desire to rush towards the unknown, a desire to know himself and the world around him. This is a gloomy nature. His troubled soul is just beginning to open up to the world.

In the image of Childe Harold, his creator gave a great artistic generalization. Harold is a “hero of his time,” a thinking and suffering hero. Harold became the ancestor of many romantic heroes of the early 19th century, and he inspired many imitations.

The image of Harold is the main organizing component in the construction of the poem. However, its theme is by no means limited to revealing the spiritual world of the protagonist; the poem reflected the main events of European life in the first third of the 19th century. - the national liberation struggle of peoples against the aggressive aspirations of Napoleon I and the oppression of the Turkish Sultan. The description of Harold's journey allows us to connect a huge number of facts from the life of the peoples of Spain, Greece, Albania, and compare national types and characters.

Forgetting about his hero, the poet constantly makes digressions; he evaluates the events of political life and the actions of individual historical figures. He calls for the struggle for freedom, condemns or approves, advises or condemns, rejoices or mourns. Thus, another character in the poem often comes to the fore: the lyrical hero, expressing the thoughts and experiences of the author, giving an assessment of certain events, so that sometimes it is difficult to understand where Harold speaks and acts, and where the lyrical hero of the poem expresses his feelings , for Byron often forgets about Harold; sometimes after 10-15 stanzas, as if having come to his senses, he makes a reservation: “that’s what Harold thought,” “that’s what Childe reasoned,” etc.

The action of the romantic poems and lyrical dramas of the English romantics unfolds either against the backdrop of the entire universe, or across vast geographical expanses; grandiose social upheavals, the meaning of which was often not entirely clear to the romantics, are depicted by them with the help of symbols and metaphorical images of titans entering into single combat with each other. This is Byron’s depiction of the struggle of the champion of the rights of oppressed humanity, Prometheus. This is also the depiction of the sinister forces of conquest in Childe Harold, which are personified by the Bloody Giant, a gigantic image of death.

The technique of contrast is often used in the poem: the beauty of the luxurious southern nature, the spiritual greatness of the ordinary people of heroic Spain and Albania are contrasted with the hypocrisy and lack of spirituality of the English bourgeois-aristocratic society. This is achieved by constantly introducing hints about the way of life of English ordinary people, and ironic remarks addressed to English politicians. The contrast between the moral character of the “noble nobility” and the ordinary people of Spain is also striking. The first turn out to be traitors to the fatherland, the second - its saviors.

The genre of lyric-epic poem, introduced by Byron into literature, significantly expanded the possibilities of artistic depiction of life. This was primarily expressed in a more in-depth display of the spiritual world of people, in the depiction of the powerful passions and experiences of the heroes, in lyrical reflections on the fate of humanity and peoples.

The first song of the poem tells how Childe Harold travels through Portugal and Spain. The description of this journey is based on a typically romantic contrast. Harold is amazed by the splendor of the beautiful sea landscapes, fragrant lemon groves and gardens, and majestic mountain ranges.

But he sees that this flourishing land does not know peace and quiet: a war is raging in Spain; An army of French invaders invaded it from the north, the British government, under the “plausible” pretext that it wanted to restore the “legitimate” feudal monarchy overthrown by Napoleon, landed troops in Cadiz. Byron paints wars of conquest in their true, unsightly light; he deprives them of the aura of false heroism.

Giving in the first song sketches of the life, customs, character traits of the inhabitants of Zaragoza, Seville, Madrid, etc., Byron at the same time shows the massive heroism of the people of Spain, who rose to fight for their independence: a girl from Zaragoza, leaving castanets, fearlessly follows lover in battle and bandages his wounds, and when her beloved dies, she herself leads her compatriots into battle:

Her beloved is wounded - she sheds no tears,

The captain has fallen - she leads the squad,

Her people are running - she shouts: “Forward!”

And the new onslaught swept away the enemies in an avalanche!

Who will make it easier for the slain to die?

Who will take revenge when the best warrior has fallen?

Who will inspire a man with courage?

That's all, that's all!..

(Translated by V. Leechka)

A simple peasant left peaceful labor to exchange his sickle for a sword; the townspeople are trained in military affairs in order to repel the enemy, etc. The poet praises the courage of the people, calls on them to remember the heroic spirit of their ancestors, to become a thunderstorm for foreign invaders.

Byron was one of the first European writers to convincingly show that the people are able to stand up for their rights themselves.

In the second song of “Childe Harold,” Harold visits Greece, whose people did not yet have the opportunity to take up arms against their enslavers, the Turks. Byron shrewdly predicted to the people of Greece that they could win their freedom only through their own efforts. He warned the patriots that no foreign ally would help them free themselves from the Turkish yoke unless they themselves took up arms.

During his travels, Harold also visited Albania. Describing the harsh nature of this country, Byron created a moving image of an Albanian patriot, in which the “heroic spirit of Iskander”, the hero of the Albanian people who led the national liberation movement against the Turks, is alive.

Having carefully read the first two songs of the poem, one cannot help but notice that the image of Harold is, as it were, constantly overshadowed and pushed into the background by another hero of the poem - a collective image of the people of those countries through which Childe Harold travels - images of Spanish partisans (Guerillas), Albanian patriots, freedom-loving Greeks. Byron's creation of these images was an ideological and artistic innovation for that time; The English poet was able to emphasize the enormous importance of people's liberation movements for the destinies of European society in the early 1910s. This was reflected in the artistic and philosophical generalization of the experience of popular movements over an entire historical era, starting with the War of Independence in North America (1775-1783) and the French Revolution of 1789-1794. right up to the beginning of the 10s of the 19th century.

It should be noted that in the third and fourth songs of the poem, Byron's dissatisfaction with his hero becomes more and more clear; he does not like his role as a passive observer, so the image of Harold completely disappears in the fourth song, giving way to the lyrical hero of the poem. Besides, Harold's personal experience is too narrow. He cannot comprehend the meaning and scale of the events taking place.

The third canto was completed after Byron's expulsion from England (1817). The spiritual drama of the great English poet was expressed in it. In addition, his personal life failures were also reflected in it. The third song begins and ends with an appeal to Byron's little daughter Ada, whom he was never destined to see. The lines, full of deep tragedy, seem to introduce us to the overall minor key of the work. Describing Harold's travels through Belgium, Byron indulges in painful thought about the future of humanity. Contrary to the official point of view, he regards the Allied victory over Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 as one of the tragedies of world history. The sacrifices made by nations in order to crush the despotism of Napoleon were, in his opinion, in vain: Waterloo not only did not ease the situation of the peoples of Europe, but led to the restoration of the Bourbons in France.

The enormous social disasters that gave rise to the era of many years of war, which ended with the restoration of reactionary regimes throughout Europe, give rise to motives for gloomy disappointment in the poet’s work; Byron mourns the "suffering millions"; he curses the tormentors of the people - monarchs and gendarmes. However, the poet’s pessimism is replaced by confidence in the inevitability of change.

He glorifies the great freedom-lover Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who preached democracy; he recalls the murderous irony of Voltaire, about whom he writes:

Direct, insidious, kind, evil, crafty,

Scourging fools, shaking powers.

(Translated by Levshakh)

Seeing no glimmer of freedom in the present, Byron turns to the heroic deeds of days past. In his imagination, the sword of the ancient Greek hero, the regicide Harmodius, entwined with laurels, appears in his imagination, the battlefield of Marathon (490 BC), where a small Greek army defeated huge hordes of Persians and defended the independence of Athens.

The fourth song of the poem, written in Venice, is dedicated to Italy, its great art, its freedom-loving, talented people. This entire part of the poem is permeated by a joyful anticipation of future events. The situation in Italy at that time was difficult. The country was humiliated and tormented, the double oppression - of the Austrian and its own feudal lords - weighed heavily on the Italian people. However, decisive events in the history of Italy were brewing.

With the instinct of a brilliant artist, Byron had long been able to discern freedom-loving trends that were not yet clear. At this time, he acts as a fiery prophet of future events. He reminds Italians of the glory of their great ancestors - the immortal Dante, the great national poets Petrarch and Tasso, Cola di Rienza - the people's tribune, who headed in the 14th century. an uprising whose goal was the creation of the Roman Republic.

In conditions of police terror, when in the cities of Italy Austrian gendarmes seized people for saying the word “tyrant” out loud, the fourth song of the poem sounded a call to fight for freedom.

Man up, Freedom! Punched with cannonballs

Your banner is raised against the winds;

The sad sound of your broken pipe

We can still hear it through the hurricane.

(Translated by S. Ilyin)

No wonder the reactionary Austrian government banned the publication of this song in Italy.

Much has been written about Byron both in the poet’s homeland and in our country. Soviet science paid more attention to the content side of Byron's poems; least of all, they were analyzed in a theoretical aspect, in the context of the development of the poet and the era to which he belonged. The poem “Childe Harold” was created over a number of years and reflected not only Byron’s search for a hero who most vividly embodied the times, but also the evolution of the narrative, descriptive poem in English literature, with the traditions of which not a single major lyric poet broke. Byron's lyric-epic poem, which stood at the origins of not only English romanticism, but also world literature of the romantic era, starting from Pope's educational descriptive poem, differed significantly from it. Byron's experience in the genre of satirical and didactic poems was very diverse.

It was in 1811-1813. he created “The Curse of Minerva”, “The Devil’s Ride”, “Waltz”, where he tried to free himself from the didactics that restrained the revealing pathos and diversify the functionality of the confessional-lyrical intonation.

Interesting in this regard are the judgments of I. G. Neupokoeva about the specifics of the genre of lyric-epic poem created by Byron. Spencer's stanza, in which the poem is written, makes it possible to reveal the distance between the hero and the author, to refute the opinion of critics - Byron's contemporaries that Byron and Childe Harold are one person. According to the poet's plan, Harold unites the disparate episodes of the poem. This figure is conventional and embodies some of the features of a young man contemporary to Byron.

Another Soviet critic M. Kurginyan points out the connection between Byron's poems and the English ballad tradition. The emphatically old form of the verse contains elements of irony, especially since the somewhat archaic hero ends up in Europe during the Napoleonic wars. Both critics note the complex relationship between hero and author. M. Kurginyan writes that “... in the process of creating Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, the poet outgrows the stage of life and spiritual experience at which her hero remains.”*

The hero and the author have common features - dissatisfaction with the surrounding reality, the desire to get to know the world, to experience their own “spiritual capabilities and strengths.” But unlike Childe Harold, Byron knows life and people better (“I studied the dialects of strangers, I did not enter strangers as a stranger”), his life experience is deeper and wider, so his hero is forced to leave the pages of the poem when it is necessary to comprehend and appreciate the universal problems and events - the origins of European freethinking, the Battle of Waterloo. M. Kurginyan sees the specificity of the image of Harold in its incompleteness: “Childe Harold is called upon to capture the very moment of awakening of the self-awareness of a person of modern times, when he begins to feel on himself and in the world around him the consequences of a deep historical breakdown and to recognize the irreconcilably tragic contradictions caused by it as a characteristic feature of its modernity"**.

[* Kurginyan M. The path of Byron the artist // Byron D. G. Collection. cit.: In 3 vols. T. 1. M., 1974. P. 10.]

[* Ibid.]

Another Soviet critic, I. G. Neupokoeva, considers the uniqueness of Harold’s personality in the context of the development of the genre of lyric-epic poem, as well as in the context of the work of Byron himself. The scientist identifies the internal dominants of the work, which determine the combination of lyrical and epic principles. In her opinion, the final stanza of the song “Sorry” seems to complete the “lyrical poem” about young Harold. The possibilities of a closed lyric poem were thus exhausted for Byron. The broadening of the poet’s horizons, who had escaped to so many exciting impressions, his entry into the big world of modern civil history required for him a more capacious poetic form. And although Byron continues to not part with his hero, who he needed, as he wrote, “in order to give the poem a certain coherence,” deep internal shifts in the content of the poem also determined shifts in the image of the hero. The place of young Harold is subsequently occupied in the poem by a man of a different, “deep social mind and temperament, capable of epically perceiving significant events and pictures of our time, feeling the greatness of the feat of the people of Spain, accepting the appalling poverty of Portuguese cities and the tragedy of Greece. The structure of the lyric poem thus seems to be torn apart. The poem, conceived as a diary of wanderings, increasingly included the epic of modern times.”*

I. G. Neupokoeva believes that the third and fourth songs of “Childe Harold” are typologically interesting “as a stage of bright maturity of the genre”**.

[* Neupokoeva I. G. Revolutionary-romantic poem of the first third of the 19th century. M., 1971. P. 61.]

[* Ibid. ]

An interesting idea of ​​the critic is that the further development of the polyphonic sound of the poem (the inclusion of philosophical problems of time, the destinies of peoples) is more organically and naturally connected with the major events of the era, in which the poet himself took an active part.

Let us add to what has been said that English romanticism, which coexisted so peacefully with classicism and enlightenment, was precisely by 1816-1817. began to break more and more decisively with didactic descriptiveness. The lyric-epic poem was an important link in the development of romanticism.

In March 1812, Byron's anonymous satirical poem "Ode to the Authors of the Bill Against the Machine-Breakers" appeared in the Morning Chronicle. By style, many unmistakably recognized the author of Childe Harold. “Ode” is one of the first works of English literature where, with great truthfulness and artistic power, the idea of ​​the injustice that exists in modern English society, which dooms the poor to an unworthy life, is heard.

Byron exposes the anti-people character of the English bourgeois-monarchical system, the purpose of which, according to the satirist, is to exploit the people.

The final lines of the “Ode” sound menacing. the theme of popular retribution, which should punish the “crowd of executioners” in power.

“The ode is a continuation and further creative development of the best traditions of poetic satirical literature of the late 18th century, which was in circulation among supporters of the Republican Party in England and among Irish patriots in Dublin. The main genre of literature of this type is the poetic pamphlet, witty and very short in form, printed on a small sheet of paper and accompanied by a caricature.

The Luddite struggle for their rights again assumed a national scale in 1816, and again Byron vividly responded to this heroic struggle of the workers of England with a passionate “Ode for the Luddites,” in which he openly called for the struggle:

As once for freedom in an overseas land

The blood ransom was paid by the poor people,

So we will buy our will,

We will live free or we will fall in battle.

(Translated by M. Donskoy)

The years 1811-1812 were the years of the rise of the radical democratic movement in England itself and national liberation movements in Europe. But this period was also one of the darkest and most difficult in English history. The ruling elite of Great Britain hastened to take advantage of the victory in the war on the continent in order to stifle all manifestations of love of freedom and prohibit workers' unions.

The onset of domestic and international reaction made a painful impression on Byron. He is going through a deep mental crisis. Motifs of gloomy despair appear in his works. However, the theme of the struggle against political and any other oppression not only does not disappear, but is even more intensified in his works of this period, which are usually called “oriental poems.” The following poems belong to this cycle: “Gyaur”, 1813; “The Bride of Abydos”, 1813; "Corsair", 1814; "Lara", 1814; "Siege of Corinth", 1816; "Parisina", 1816.

The hero of Byron's "oriental poems" is usually a rebel-individualist who rejects all the legal orders of a proprietary society. This is a typical romantic hero; he is characterized by the exclusivity of his personal destiny, strong passions, unbending will, and tragic love. Individualistic and anarchic freedom is his ideal. These heroes are best characterized by the words Belinsky said about Byron himself: “This is a human personality, indignant against the common and, in his proud rebellion, leaning on himself.”* The praise of individualistic rebellion was an expression of Byron's spiritual drama, the reason for which should be sought in the very era that gave rise to the cult of individualism.

[* Belinsky V. G. Collection. cit.: In 3. t. M., 1948. T. 2. P. 713.]

However, by the time the “eastern poems” appeared, this contradiction between them was not so striking. Much more important then (1813-1816) was something else: a passionate call to action, to struggle, which Byron, through the mouth of his frantic heroes, proclaimed as the main meaning of existence. People of that time were deeply concerned about the thoughts contained in the “eastern poems” about the ruined human capabilities and talents in modern society. Thus, one of the heroes of the “eastern poems” regrets his “unspent gigantic powers”; another hero, Conrad, was born with a Heart capable of “great good,” but he was not given the opportunity to create this good. Selim is painfully burdened by inaction.

The heroes of Byron's poems act as judges and avengers for desecrated human dignity: they strive to break the shackles forcibly imposed on a person by other people.

The composition and style of “oriental poems” are characteristic of the art of romanticism. Where exactly these poems take place is unknown. It unfolds against the backdrop of lush, exotic nature: descriptions are given of the endless blue sea, wild coastal cliffs, and fabulously beautiful mountain valleys. However, it would be in vain to look for them to depict the landscapes of any particular country, as was the case, for example, in Childe Harold. “The action in Lara takes place on the Moon,” Byron wrote on this occasion to his publisher Murray, advising him to refrain from any comments about the relief of the area described in this poem. Each of the “oriental poems” is a short poetic story, in the center the plot of which is the fate of any one romantic hero. All the author’s attention is aimed at revealing the inner world of this hero, showing the depth of his powerful passions. Compared to “Childe Harold,” the poems of 1813-1816 are distinguished by plot completeness; the main character is not only a connecting link between the individual parts of the poem, but represents its main subject. The poet does not describe large folk scenes here, does not give political assessments of current events, or a collective image of ordinary people from the people. The protest sounding in these poems is romantically abstract.

The construction of the plot is characterized by fragmentation, a heap of random details; there are many omissions and significant hints everywhere. You can guess the motives driving the hero’s actions, but often you cannot understand who he is, where he came from, what awaits him in the future. The action usually begins with some moment snatched from the middle or even the end of the story, and only gradually does it become clear what happened earlier.

The plot of the poem “The Giaur” (1813) boils down to the following: The Giaur confesses to a monk on his deathbed. His incoherent story is the ravings of a dying man, some scraps of phrases. It is only with great difficulty that one can grasp the train of his thoughts. Gyaur passionately loved Leila, she reciprocated his feelings and the lovers were happy. But Leila's jealous and treacherous husband Hassan tracked her down. and murdered him villainously. The giaur took revenge on the tyrant and executioner of Leila.

The giaur is tormented by the thought that his “rich feelings” have been wasted. His monologue sounds like an accusation against society, which humiliated him and made him an unfortunate renegade.

The hero of the poem "Corsair" is the leader of pirates - fearless people who reject the despotic laws of the society in which they are forced to live and to whom they prefer a free life on a desert island.

The corsair, their brave leader, is as much a rebel as the Giaur. On the island of pirates, everyone obeys him and fears him. He is harsh and domineering. Enemies tremble at the mere mention of his name. But he is lonely, he has no friends, a fatal secret hangs over him, no one knows anything about his past. Only from two or three hints thrown in passing, one can conclude that Conrad in his youth, like other heroes of “oriental poems,” passionately “longed to do good”:

He was created for good, but evil

It was attracted to itself, distorting it...

(Translated by Yu. Petrov)

As in the fate of Gyaur, love plays a fatal role in Conrad’s life. Having fallen in love with Medora, he forever remains faithful to her alone. With the death of Medora, the meaning of life for Conrad is lost, he mysteriously disappears.

The hero of “The Corsair” is always immersed in his inner world, he admires his suffering, his pride and jealously guards his loneliness. This reflects the individualism of the hero, as if standing above other people whom he despises for their insignificance and weakness of spirit. Thus, he is unable to appreciate the sacrificial love of the beautiful Gulnara, who saved him from prison at the risk of his life. The image of Gulnara is also shrouded in gloomy romance. Having learned true love, she can no longer put up with the hateful life of a concubine and slave Seid; her rebellion is active; she kills her tyrant Seid and forever abandons her homeland, where she can no longer return.

The poem "The Corsair" is a masterpiece of English poetry. The passionate power of a romantic dream is combined in it with the comparative simplicity of the artistic development of the theme; the heroic energy of the verse in “The Corsair” is combined with its subtlest musicality; the poetry of the landscapes - with depth in depicting the psychology of the hero.

In his "oriental poems" Byron continued to develop the genre of romantic poem.

Having used English rhymed pentameter for most of his “oriental poems,” Byron imbued it with new stylistic techniques that allowed him to achieve the greatest expressiveness for depicting action, the hero’s moods, descriptions of nature, and shades of people’s emotional experiences. He freely addresses the reader with questions, widely uses exclamatory sentences, builds his plots not in a strict logical order (as was customary among classical poets), but in accordance with the character and mood of the hero.

It is also worth noting the evolution of Byron's hero: if Childe Harold - the first romantic character of the English poet - does not go beyond a passive protest against the world of injustice and evil, then for the rebels of the “eastern poems” the whole meaning of life lies in action, in struggle. They respond to the injustices committed by the “lawless law” of a “civilized” society with fearless confrontation, but the futility of their lonely struggle gives rise to their “proud and furious despair.”

Around 1815, Byron created a wonderful lyrical cycle called “Jewish Melodies.” In the poems of this cycle, as in the “oriental poems,” the mood of gloomy despair is palpable. This is the poem “My Soul is Gloomy,” translated into Russian by Lermontov. Regarding this poem, Belinsky wrote: ““Jewish Melody” and “Into the Album” also express the inner world of the poet’s soul. This is the pain of the heart, the heavy sighs of the chest, these are gravestone inscriptions on the monuments of lost joys.”*

[* Belinsky V. G. Collection. op. T. 1. P. 683.]

Byron's love lyrics of 1813-1817 are distinguished by their extraordinary richness and diversity: nobility, tenderness, and deep humanity constitute its distinctive features. This is lyricism, devoid of any mysticism, false fantasy, asceticism, or religiosity. According to Belinsky, in Byron's lyrics “there is heaven, but the earth is always permeated with it.”

In the collection “Jewish Melodies” Byron creates his ideal of love:

She comes in all her glory -

Light as the night of her country.

The entire depth of the heavens and all the stars

Contained in her eyes.

Like the sun in the morning dew.

But only softened by darkness...

(Translated by S. Marshak)

When speaking about the humanism of Byron's lyric poems, one must first of all keep in mind the spirit of freedom and struggle with which they are filled. In such pearls of his poetry as “Imitation of Catullus”, “To the Album”, “The Athenian Woman”, “To Thirza”, “I Decide”, “On the Question of the Beginning of Love”, “Imitation of the Portuguese”, “Separation”, “Oh, if there, beyond the heavens”, “You cried”, “Stanzas to Augusta”, etc. - he expressed the liberating ideals of the new time. Deep sincerity, purity and freshness of feeling, thirst for freedom, high and genuine humanity of the lyric poems awakened the consciousness of society, set it against the customs and mores implanted by the church during the period of reaction.

It’s interesting that the theme of individual heroism is addressed in a new way in this cycle. The poem “You have ended the path of life” tells about a hero who deliberately sacrificed his life for the good of the fatherland. The poet emphasizes that the hero’s name is immortal in the minds of the people.

While living in Geneva, Byron visited Chillon Castle, where in the 16th century. the fighter for the cause of the republic, the patriot of Geneva, Bonivard, was languishing. Bonivard's feat inspired Byron to create the poem "The Prisoner of Chillon" (1810). The poem was preceded by "Sonnet to Chillon". This sonnet proclaimed the idea that “the sun of freedom illuminates the prison of prisoners thrown into prison for its bright ideals.” In the poem, the reader is no longer presented with the image of a romantic rebel, but with a real portrait of a political figure, an ardent patriot of his homeland.

Bonivard, by order of the Duke of Savoy, was thrown along with his seven sons into the dark, damp cellars of the castle, located under the bottom of Lake Geneva. Byron reproduces a terrible picture of the mental anguish of prisoners buried alive in a damp and dark underwater grave. Despite numerous hardships, the hero of the poem has not lost his fortitude and fortitude.

The theme of violent resistance to the oppressors, the theme of intransigence, which first sounded in the “Eastern poems,” appears again with great artistic force in the poem “Prometheus.” The Promethean theme of the fearless struggle for the freedom of the oppressed becomes one of the main themes of the third (and last) period of Byron's work.

The heroes of Byron's philosophical dramas act as representatives of all the oppressed on earth. The deep mental discord and terrible pangs of conscience characteristic of these heroes are their main distinguishing feature. But their proud suffering stems not only from the tragic consciousness that for them “personal happiness” is impossible. Disappointment and despondency are the lot of the entire generation that survived the collapse of the humanistic ideas of the French Revolution.

"Manfred" (1817) is Byron's darkest dramatic poem. It reflected the poet’s deep emotional experiences in 1816-1817. (after his expulsion from England). However, the motives of hopeless despair are combined in this work with the determination of its hero to defend his human dignity and freedom of spirit to the end.

The poem “Manfred” belongs to the powerful poetry of symbols, which interprets the fundamental questions of existence.

Manfred achieved his enormous power over nature not through a deal with the rulers of the underworld, but solely through the power of his mind, with the help of a variety of knowledge acquired through exhausting labor over many years of life. The tragedy of Manfred, just like the tragedy of Harold and other early heroes of Byron, is the tragedy of extraordinary individuals. However, Manfred’s protest is much deeper and more significant, for his unfulfilled dreams and plans were much broader and more diverse:

...and I cherished dreams,

And I dreamed in the morning of my young days:

He dreamed of being an educator of peoples.

Reach heaven - why? God knows!

(Translated by I. Bunin)

The collapse of hopes associated with enlightenment is what underlies the hopeless despair that took possession of Manfred’s soul:

... to humble oneself before insignificance,

To penetrate and keep up everywhere,

And be a walking lie...

(Translated by I. Bunin)

Having cursed the society of people, Manfred runs away from him, secludes himself in his abandoned ancestral castle in the deserted Alps. Lonely and proud, he opposes the whole world - nature and people. He condemns not only the orders in society, but also the laws of the universe, not only the rampant universal egoism, but also his own imperfection, because of which he destroyed his beloved Astarte, for Manfred is not only a victim of unjust social orders, but also a hero of his time, endowed such traits as selfishness, arrogance, lust for power, thirst for success, schadenfreude - in a word, those traits that turned out to be the other side of the coin of “personal emancipation” during the French bourgeois revolution. Astarte died because Manfred's selfish love killed her.

Through the fate of Manfred, Byron shows how destructive ambition and selfishness are for others. Manfred is well aware of his selfishness and is tormented by the fact that his wild, indomitable temper brings terrible devastation to the human world:

I'm not cruel, but I'm like a burning whirlwind,

Like a fiery simoom...

He is not looking for anyone, but destruction

He threatens everything he encounters along the way.

(Translated by I. Bunin)

Exhausted by his suffering and doubts, Manfred finally decided to appear in the face of the supreme spirit of evil - Ahriman, in order to evoke the spirit of Astarte, to hear her voice once again. In the face of this inexorable force, he shows tenacity and courage. Ahriman's minions cannot break his will. On the contrary, Manfred achieves the fulfillment of his demand: the spirits summon the shadow of Astarte, who tells Manfred that he will soon find the desired peace in death.

The supreme spirit Ahriman, his handmaiden Nemesis, spirits and parks that destroy entire cities and “restore fallen thrones... strengthen thrones about to fall” form the ominous background of the drama. This is a symbolic image of the dark world of evil.

It is unthinkable for Manfred to submit to this cruel world, just as it is unthinkable for him to submit to religion, which seeks to subjugate his powerful, proud spirit. In the last scene of the drama, Manfred proudly rejects the abbot's offer to repent and dies as free and serene as he lived. However, Byron’s fight against God takes on a truly comprehensive character in the mystery “Cain” (1821).

Based on the biblical story about the first people on earth, Byron created an original work. Byron's Cain is not the criminal fratricide as the biblical legend represents him, but the first rebel on earth, rebelling against the despotism of God, who doomed the human race to slavery and untold suffering. Cain looks with bewilderment and indignation at his parents - Adam and Eve, who were expelled from paradise, but nevertheless raise their sons in the spirit of slavish obedience to God.

Jehovah in Byron's mystery is ambitious, suspicious, vengeful, greedy, susceptible to flattery, in a word, endowed with all the traits of an earthly despot. Cain, possessing a keen mind and observation, questions the authority of God. He strives to understand the world and its laws and achieves this with the help of the fallen angel Lucifer - a proud rebel who, like Milton's Satan, was cast out of heaven by God for his love of freedom.

Lucifer opens Cain's eyes to the fact that all disasters were sent down to people by God - it was he who expelled them from paradise, it was he who doomed people to death.

Like Manfred, knowledge does not bring happiness to Cain. It only fills him with the awareness of the injustice of the laws by which the universe is organized. Cain cannot come to terms with the commands of the supreme deity to “live like a worm” and “work to die.” He not only protests against the conditions in which people are condemned to live on earth, but also against the very laws of nature, thus proudly challenging God. Wanting to find support for his protest, Cain seeks sympathy from his brother Abel, but Abel blindly believes in the goodness of the ruler of the worlds. He brings a lamb to the altar of God - heavenly fire consumes Abel's bloody sacrifice. At the same time, a whirlwind overturns the altar of Cain with fruits - his sacrifice is displeasing to Jehovah. In the heat of an argument, succumbing to a feeling of anger, Cain hits Abel in the temple with a firebrand, which he grabs from the altar. Abel dies. The sight of the world's first death shocks Cain. His parents curse him. Pursued by Jehovah, together with his wife Ada and two children, he goes into exile into the “immense expanses of the earth.”

There is little action in the mystery "Cain": the secret of its artistry lies in the magnificent lyrical poetry with which it is saturated. Here Byron's “worldly sorrow” reaches cosmic proportions. Together with Lucifer, Cain visits the kingdom of death in space, where he sees the shadows of long-dead creatures. “The same fate awaits humanity,” Lucifer tells him. History develops in a vicious circle, progress is impossible - Byron comes to this gloomy conclusion under the influence of Cuvier’s philosophy about the regression of humanity.

However, “Cain” is also evidence that Byron partly decided to part with the individualist hero, which is very noticeable if we compare the image of Manfred and the image of Cain. Cain is not a lonely rebel, indifferent to the fate of other people (like Manfred). He is a humanist who rebelled against the power and authority of God in the name of the happiness of people; he is deeply saddened by the fate of future generations of humanity. Manfred suffered from the consciousness of his tragic loneliness. Cain is not alone: ​​he is dearly loved by Ada and reciprocates her feelings; Lucifer - “the spirit of doubt and daring” - is his advisor and ally. Cain is a fighter for justice for those who have entered into a dispute with God. The image of Cain's loving wife Ada is one of Byron's most charming female images. She is not only Cain's lover, but also his friend and comforter. She combines femininity and courage, a loving heart and strength of character. Without hesitation, she follows her husband into exile, towards future troubles and trials.

The bold atheistic and humanistic ideas of "Cain" made a huge impression on the progressive people - Byron's contemporaries. W. Scott called "Cain" "a majestic and stunning drama." Goethe noted that “the beauty of the work is such that the world will not see its like a second time.”

The poem "Beppo" (1818) opens the Italian period of Byron's work (1817-1823). This poem is the first work in which the English poet’s desire for realism was clearly outlined. In the poem, Byron comically reduces the “heroism” of the romantic image. The poem is based on a funny story about a rich Venetian woman, Laura, whose husband Beppo, having gone to overseas countries on business, went missing. This situation is reminiscent of similar collisions in “oriental poems” (for example, in “The Corsair”).

However, unlike romantic heroines, Laura is quickly consoled and has another lover. The heroes of the poem are alien to the gloomy disappointment characteristic of the characters in Byron's works before 1817. On the contrary, they are characterized by a spirit of carefree fun, they appreciate jokes and sparkling wit. During the Venice Carnival, Laura is pursued by a Turk. It turns out that this is her missing husband Beppo. There is an explanation. However, instead of “fatal passions,” a deadly duel between rivals, the reader will have a completely peaceful end.

Describing the cheerful morals of Venice, Byron ridicules the English Puritan inhabitants and mocks the hypocritical English nobility. He glorifies the joys of life, love, pleasure. The poem is characterized by an accurate reproduction of the details of Venetian life, a humorous description of morals, and comic situations. In 1819, Italy was preparing to throw off the yoke of occupation and regain its national freedom.

Byron writes the poem "Dante's Prophecy", in which he glorifies the poet-citizen, the brilliant creator of the Italian language and poetry. Echoing Dante, Byron condemns those who are “indifferent to the suffering of their homeland,” the poet calls not to hesitate, “to rally together” to save their homeland. At this time, he dreams of creating a “severe republican tragedy” that would call the people to fight the monarchy and foreign occupation.

The drama "Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice", written in Ravenna in 1819, is a political tragedy, saturated with great revolutionary pathos. Its plot is based on a historical event - the democratic conspiracy of the Venetian Doge Marino Faliero in 1355 against the feudal oligarchy and the guild of rich merchants - the “Council of Forty” in Venice.

Byron welcomed the Neapolitan revolution of 1820, offering to help the rebels with money and himself “at least as a simple volunteer.” In his diary, he wrote that “the people here are good, passionate, freedom-loving, but there is no one to direct their energy.” However, this did not make Byron forget about his homeland.

This anxiety about the fate of the homeland was most forcefully expressed in “The Irish Avatar” * (1821) - a small satirical poem that struck Goethe as “the height of hatred.” "Avatar" was written on the occasion of the visit of the new English king George IV to loyal Irish liberals. Recalling the famine, slavery in Ireland, and the robbery of the people committed by the English government, the poet condemns the Irish, who were flattered by the handouts of “the fourth of the fools and oppressors called the Georges.” Byron ironically ridicules the campaign launched by liberals to raise funds for the construction of a palace for George IV. This palace, he believes, they want to build “in exchange for a workhouse and prison” for the Irish. Grieving for a defeated, humiliated, bleeding Ireland, Byron calls on the Irish people to remember that freedom can only be found in battle.

[* The word “avatara” in Indian mythology means the incarnation of gods in human form; in Byron's poem it has an ironic meaning: George IV shows "God's mercy" and appears before the Irish liberals.]

Another significant work written in Italy and dedicated to events taking place in distant England is “The Vision of the Court” (1821) - a satirical poem published in the first issue of the magazine “Liberal” for 1822. It sounds like a harsh verdict on the Tory ruling clique and is intended as a parody of Southey's eulogy of the same name, in which that renegade poet extolled the wisdom and family virtues of the recently deceased King George III, placing him in heaven for it. As in Southey's poem, Byron depicts the trial of George III in the next world. In A Vision of Judgment, Byron creates the titanic image of Lucifer accusing George on behalf of the "martyrned millions" at the heavenly court. In the midst of the dispute, poet laureate Southey suddenly appears in heaven, brought on the back of the devil Asmodeus. Southey intervenes in the bickering between saints and devils. Speaking in defense of George III, he begins to read aloud his poem "A Vision of Judgment", which praises the deceased king. However, from the very first lines, everyone listening is overcome by such melancholy and boredom that devils and angels scatter in all directions. Even the guardian of paradise himself, St. Peter cannot stand the “nasal melody” and with a blow of the key to the gates of heaven knocks Southie back to earth. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the rising turmoil, George III slips into the heavenly abode and joins the “host of the blessed.”

In 1822, the congress of the reactionary Holy Alliance met in Verona. The defeat of the Carbonari movement meant a new intensification of reaction in Europe. The monarchs of Russia, Austria, and Prussia entered into a reactionary alliance in order to... to strangle the liberation movement in Europe. Congress decided to instruct the French government to suppress the revolution in Spain and recognized the Greek struggle against the Turkish yoke as a “criminal revolution.” Among the few voices that rose in Europe against the establishment of the police despotism of the Holy Alliance was the voice of Byron. In the third issue of the magazine “Liberal” his satire “The Bronze Age” (1823) was published, in which the poet again took the path of struggle against the forces of reaction.

Byron's "Bronze Age" contains, along with bitter irony, lyrical passion. The heroic inspiration of the great champion of justice is heard in the satirical verses of the poem. The lines directed against Louis XVIII and the ministers of the Holy Alliance breathe with caustic contempt and hatred. Byron develops and strengthens the anti-war theme in the poem (expressed in “Harold” still very weakly, in encrypted romantic symbols).

With truly realistic insight into the contradictions of reality, Byron shows that the reactionary policies of the monarchs of Europe are directed by robber bankers. They restore the rights of “bankrupt tyrants”, “control all countries and states”, profit from organizing rebellions or suppressing them:

Shylock's shadow hovers here again,

Take your “pound of meat” from the hearts of nations!

(Translated by V. Lugovsky)

The collective image of the people, which first appeared in Childe Harold, reappears on the pages of The Bronze Age. Here, for example, are the people of heroic Spain fighting for freedom:

The cry went up: “Spain, unite!”

Stand up like a wall! Your steel chest

Napoleon's path was blocked!

(Translated by V. Lugovsky)

Then we see the walls of the Moscow Kremlin:

Moscow! For all invaders the limit...

Moscow, Moscow, before your flame

The illuminated smoke of the volcanoes has faded...

Only the fire of the days to come can compare with it,

Which will destroy the thrones of all kings!

Moscow! He was menacing, and stern, and strict

You have taught your enemies a lesson!

(Translated by V. Lugovsky)

Recreating pictures of the liberation struggle of peoples, Byron expresses optimistic confidence that justice must prevail. He calls on the French troops to go over to the side of the rebels of Madrid:

Rise, Frenchman, loving freedom,

You will rescue the Spaniards and yourself!

(Translated by V. Lugovsky)

The Bronze Age differs from Byron's early satire in its enormous coverage of the phenomena of European life during the Restoration period. The criticism of capitalist orders, begun in the “Bronze Age,” finds its further development in the poem in verse “Don Juan” (1818-1823), which is the crown of all Byron’s work.

Byron began writing the main work of his life, the poem “Don Juan,” in Italy. According to the author's original plan, Don Juan should have had “twenty-five songs.” However, the poet managed to write only sixteen songs in their entirety and only fourteen stanzas of the seventeenth.

“Don Juan” reflects Byron’s contemporary era and deeply and truthfully shows the life of society. At the same time, in this work he revealed the depth of the human soul. If in romantic works “one eternal melancholy”, “one but fiery passion” prevailed, then Byron’s poem reveals many character traits of the hero and the life of European society at the beginning of the 19th century. Byron narrates comic incidents and funny love stories, paints menacing pictures of battles and storms at sea.

This artistic and emotional richness was determined by the extremely broad ideological and thematic content of the poem genre, which Byron, an innovative poet, constantly searching for new forms to best reflect life in art, created in the last period of his work. A. S. Pushkin spoke about the “truly Shakespearean diversity” of Don Juan. W. Scott also believed that in this last major work of his, Byron was “as varied as Shakespeare himself.” Indeed, the genre of the poem is distinguished by the enormous richness of its components: it is characterized by deep lyricism, the presence of an epic element and passionate journalisticism.

Polemicizing with the Leucists (in the dedication to the poem), Byron ironically calls his own muse “on foot,” thereby making it clear that from now on he is critical of the writing style of the romantics, that he condemns them for idealizing life. Participation in contemporary national liberation movements, close contact with patriotic Italians and Greeks (in Venice, Ravenna and Pisa) convince Byron of the unlifeability of his former romantic hero and force him to turn to the “poetry of reality.” This desire for an objective transmission of reality is combined in the English poet with an indispensable desire to condemn the narrowness, pretentiousness and, under certain conditions, the comedy of the actions and actions of the romantic hero. Byron, ridiculing the romantic impulses of the characters in his novel - Juan, Julia and others - essentially creates a parody of a romantic work in the first songs of the poem.

The very way of creating the character of the main character of the poem, Juan, is fundamentally different from the presentation of the image of the romantic hero in “Harold”, “oriental poems” and in “Manfred”. In these works we are presented with a proud loner, disillusioned with life and withdrawn into himself; one can guess about his past only from random hints. In contrast, the poem gives a detailed account of Juan's childhood and upbringing. His image is devoid of any aura of romantic “heroism”. He is a living person with all human weaknesses and vices. The author emphasizes that his hero and he himself have nothing in common, while Byron almost always endowed the hero of his early poems with some autobiographical traits.

João was born in the 18th century. in Spain, in Seville, in a noble family in which a religious and sanctimonious spirit reigned. As a child, he did not bother himself too much with his studies, because he was taught by boring and ignorant scholastics, and in his youth, contrary to the teachings of bigots, he completely surrendered to his heart's desire - he fell in love with his neighbor's beautiful wife Julia, who had an old and jealous husband - the lover of Juan's mother. To avoid a scandal, his mother hastened to send Juan on a long trip to Europe.

In the satirical descriptions of the life of the noble circles of Seville, it is not difficult to recognize the sanctimonious morals and hypocritical morality of the high society of England. The transfer of the action to Spain is determined only by the desire to preserve the plot of the Spanish legend of Don Juan.

Going on a journey, Juan got into a shipwreck and was saved by the daughter of the pirate Lambro, the charming girl Gaide. Juan's love for Guy de is one of the most poetic passages in the poem. In the fourth through sixth songs, Byron glorifies their wonderful union, untainted by any vile material calculations. However, happiness with Hayde turned out to be short-lived. The angry pirate, Hayde's father, sells Juan into slavery to the Turks, and Hayde, unable to bear it, dies.

From the slave market, Juan ends up in the Sultan's seraglio, then flees from there to Izmail, where he joins Suvorov's troops, participates in the capture of Izmail, receives an award for valor, after which he arrives in St. Petersburg, to the palace of Catherine II, where Suvorov sent him with a dispatch. He becomes Catherine's favorite and goes to England as the Russian ambassador. This is where the novel ends. Byron was going to bring the biography of his hero to the revolution of 1789 in Paris, where he was supposed to die on the barricades.

The realistic orientation of the work is felt in the author’s desire to describe the fate of an ordinary, ordinary person, to reveal the secrets of his mind and heart and, without keeping silent about his shortcomings, to show the positive traits of his character: honesty, moral fortitude, aversion to hypocrisy, love of freedom. Juan is intemperate, fickle in his affections, sometimes selfish, but he rejects cold debauchery with disgust, refusing the love of the sultana in the seraglio; he courageously and steadfastly fights for his independence. Juan is sensitive, humane, and capable of compassion: for example, during a fierce battle in Izmail, he saves a little girl who has lost her parents, and then takes her in to raise her. In England, he observes with irony the hypocrisy, hypocrisy, and snobbery of the ruling classes.

The character of Juan is given in development. His views and feelings change depending on the circumstances in which life puts him.

The poem is written in pentameter octave. This meter, requiring the obligatory so-called third rhyme in the fifth and sixth lines, gave the author the opportunity to best accomplish the task he had set for himself: without disturbing the flow of the narrative. about the fate of the hero, talk in passing about political events, give your assessment of what is happening. "Don Juan" contains a huge generalization of the socio-political life of the era. As Juan matures, the satirical intensity of Byron's criticism of various despotic regimes increases.

Byron predicts the quick and inglorious death of the Holy Alliance - the monstrous “Union of Stranglers”; he says that the bourgeois order will not bring “higher freedom”:

Byron portrays the power of all owner-exploiters as a web entangling peoples who only need to wake up in order to throw off fatal oppression forever.

An uncompromising enemy of wars of conquest, Malthusianism, oriental despotism, bankers and feudal lords, Byron satirically draws a whole gallery of such characters. Among them are George IV, Castlereagh, and the Sultan. The poet's thought is turned to the future. Byron, as it were, bequeathed to future generations to complete the struggle for the “highest freedom” of people that he and his generation began.

Byron's protest in Don Juan against all oppression and political tyranny is much deeper than in all his previous works. The poet attacks the feudal-church reaction, stigmatizes the English bankers and the “corrupt government” of England. He compares Haide's father, the pirate Lambro, to the Prime Minister. A banker and a politician are the same swindler, only on a much larger scale, but no one in a “civilized society” would even think of being outraged by their robbery. This legalized robbery is “called a tax!” - Byron exclaims bitterly.

At times, awareness of the injustice and ugliness of the social life of England and Europe gives rise to gloomy moods in the poet. Indignantly, he claims that the world is a cramped dungeon, where England is a “prison sentry.”

In songs X-XVI of Don Juan, the poet exposes the anti-people policy of the English government, the hypocrisy and insignificance of high society, the comedy of parliamentary struggle, the self-interest and narrow-mindedness of the die-hard English bourgeoisie, the rulers of the City - the bankers who are the true masters of the state.

The last songs of “Don Juan” are convincing proof of the correctness of Belinsky’s opinion, who wrote that Byron’s work is “... a denial of contemporary English reality.” This is especially felt in those lines of the X song of “Don Juan”, where Byron gives a general description of Tory Britain.

And in the last songs of “Don Juan” Byron presents a long gallery of “secular scoundrels” - politicians, city bosses, noble regulars of social drawing rooms - “fashionable lions and lionesses”.

Here in front of us is the powerful adviser to the king - Lord Henry Amondeville with his wife Lady Adeline. Introducing the reader to Lady Adeline, the poet lavishes praise on her intelligence and beauty, but one can notice a slight irony that is mixed with this praise. At her home receptions, Lady Adeline smiles equally warmly at both the “last scoundrel” and the “decent man.” Selfish calculation, cold insensibility - this is what hides behind the patrician gloss and ostentatious cordiality of a society lady.

The psychological portrait of Sir Henry is also built on the contradiction between appearance and essence - an important post and impressive appearance are in blatant contradiction with the complete spiritual wretchedness of this man. He is an unprincipled careerist and a clever demagogue who thinks least of all about the “good of the nation.”

The motley background for the Amondeville couple - typical representatives of the ruling circles of England - is made up of much less detailed, but numerous portraits of other “secular scoundrels”: here and the “mediocre count, marquis, baron”, aimlessly wasting their lives, dividing all their time between hunting and carousing , balls and ballet; these “socialites” “lie down in the morning, get up in the evening and recognize nothing else.” And in passing, a sketched portrait of a general, “very brave on the floor,” but “a humble warrior on the battlefield”; There is also a “lying lawyer” who interprets the laws at random in the interests of the rich and powerful. In many cases, a clear epigrammatic description of negative characters ends with a comic surname, expressing the very essence of these characters. For example, the priest Postoslov, the philosopher Dick-Sceptius, the empty high-society ladies Mak-Pustoglisk, Mak-Hangis, Bom-Azey o'Train, etc.

Often, a satirist achieves a reduction in the image by placing it in a comic situation or connecting it with a comic character. So, for example, speaking about the eloquent radical philosopher, Byron places him next to the famous drunkard:

Sir John Puviskey, famous drunkard;

There's Lord Pyrrhon, the radical philosopher...

(Translated by T. Gnedich)

By exposing the emptiness, selfishness, and immorality of high society, Byron develops a national satirical tradition.

The poem “Don Juan” remained unfinished, but its incompleteness does not prevent us from considering this work as an integral artistic system in which the achievements of Byron the romantic were most fully manifested. This poem was preceded by a number of satirical works (“Vision of the Court”, “The Irish Avatar”, “The Bronze Age”), built on the principle of free association. The use of mythological, folklore images, traditions of medieval and Renaissance literature was surprisingly complemented by political allusions to circumstances, events and persons of modern reality. The creative search for a hero should have led Byron to the discovery of an ordinary, ordinary person for this role, to the deheroization of the individual, becoming either the subject or the object of history and circumstances. The traditional Don Juan - a seducer and a cynic - was an active participant in conflicts and clashes with life circumstances. Byron's hero initially develops according to the laws of a romantic character. He even goes on a journey, like his predecessor Harold, and finds himself in the most unpredictable situations - on a robber island, in a slave market, in a Turkish harem, under the walls of Ishmael, at the court of Catherine II and, finally, in England.

Unlike Harold, Don Juan has mentors in the person of his mother, Dona Inea, and the Englishman Johnson. They are trying to instill in him hypocrisy and hypocrisy, cold prudence and cynicism. From the pilgrim and the observer comes the participant and the dispassionate analyst. He does not disappear from the poem like Harold. Don Juan's acquisition of life experience and knowledge of the world and people is active and consistent.

The octave in which the poem was written corresponds to the author’s intention to reflect the diversity and complexity of pictures of the world and various emotional states. Irony and satire enrich the romantic palette, introducing obvious variety into the relationship between the hero and the author. From a commentator on events that Harold did not understand, Byron turns into a mocking critic, observing his hero as if from the outside. He enters into a closer, almost equal relationship with Juan, thereby emphasizing the closeness of their life experience and social position. M. Kurginyan quite rightly noted the peculiarity of the lyric-epic narration in this poem: “The story is told as if from two persons - from the poet himself, who stands in the position of irreconcilable criticism, and a certain conventional narrator who accepts the world “as it is” and does not believe in its improvement. Such a division of positions creates unlimited opportunities for versatile commentary on the hero’s conclusions, and for arguments presented in different tones about important aspects of social life, pressing political issues, the state of literature, morals, tastes, everyday life - in a word, about life in in the broadest sense of the word."

[* Kurginyan M. The Path of Byron the Artist. P. 20.]

Don Juan directly correlates with the previous heroes of Byron's works, sometimes polemicizing with them, sometimes continuing in some way the planned paths of character development. Collision with the surrounding reality gives enormous advantages to Byron's hero. His passivity, selfishness and unaccountable thirst for pleasure completely disappear, giving way to moral fortitude (cannibalism among sailors while sailing on the sea), selflessness and kindness (saving a Turkish girl), critical development of other people's experience (Johnson, Catherine, mother). Byron's hero either approaches the author or moves away from him when it comes to the epic line of the poem. The possibilities of the lyric-epic poem, as Byron proved with his Don Juan, are far from exhausted. The variety of themes, tones, episodes and characters are subject to the internal logic of the development of the hero’s character, the formation of his inner world, filled with impressions of what he has seen and subject to systematization, analysis, and critical assimilation. The lyrical beginning expands and enriches itself, passing through various external circumstances and being tested by an epic vision of life. The “amazing Shakespearean diversity” of Byron’s last poem, noted by Pushkin, is explained both by its deep connection with the English tradition of descriptive poems and by its innovative understanding of the patterns of a romantic work.

Byron's work had a powerful influence on the development of many national literatures. “Byron’s poetry,” writes V. G. Belinsky, “is a page from the history of mankind: tear it out, and the integrity of history disappears, leaving a gap that cannot be replaced by anything.”

[* Belinsky V. G. Collection. op. T. 1. P. 713.]

The enormous ideological and artistic wealth of Byron's works had a beneficial effect on the development of English, American, French, German and Russian democratic and revolutionary democratic poetry.

A. S. Pushkin, who lived through a whole period of fascination with Byron, forever captured his image (in his immortal poem “To the Sea.”

Belinsky, Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Dostoevsky, following Pushkin, gave a deep assessment of Byron's work. Belinsky considered Byron an “immensely colossal” poet, a “Prometheus of modern times.”

Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov and Dostoevsky also highly valued Byron’s passionate, fiery, fighting spirit-filled poetry. They noted that his heroic life (the fight for the freedom of Italy and Greece) is inextricably linked with the freedom-loving humanistic pathos of his poetry.

George Byron occupies a place of honor in English romanticism, and his gloomy selfishness, which filled his poems, gave his personality special fame. One of the main characters, Childe Harold, led to the fashion for Byronism as a new movement throughout Europe. This continued even after Byron's death.

Themes of George Byron's poems:

The writer's early years were very productive - several hundred pages of a novel, a poem of more than 350 verses, as well as many short poems. With such a flow of works, criticism could not break the young writer, and he continued to write further.

After traveling around Europe and returning back to England, the poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” was written, which brought unprecedented fame to the writer and sold 14,000 copies in 1 day. This work was very relevant at that time and touched upon many social problems that went beyond the borders of England.

Most of Byron's poems are autobiographical, which is not typical for other romantics. However, this makes his works especially useful for connoisseurs of the poet’s work.

GEORGE GORDON BYRON

You will say that this is very strange,” George Gordon Noel Byron once wrote, “but the truth is stranger than any fiction.” In these two lines of poetry, he gave us both a catchphrase, which is still in use today, and an apt description of his short, scandalous life, spent in pursuit of pleasure.

If your father's nickname is Mad Jack, there is every prerequisite for a difficult fate awaiting you. Little George barely remembered his father, since he drank himself to death when the boy was only three years old. But Mad Jack’s craving for excesses managed to penetrate, if not into the blood, then at least into the fragile mind of his son. In any case, Byron had little choice: his mother hated him, so he had no choice but to be his father's son. His mother called him a “lame boy” (he had a bad leg) and once almost beat George to death with a poker. And his governess May Gray, according to some reports, flirted with him when little Byron was not even ten. Perhaps the only pleasant event in his childhood was that he inherited his uncle's fortune, and along with the fortune he inherited the title: Baron Byron of Rochdale. Since then, everyone has referred to George Gordon as Lord Byron.

Byron grew up and became dazzlingly handsome. His only physical defect, besides a lame leg (he tried to compensate for the injury by demonstrating excellent athletic training), was a tendency to be overweight. In the fashion of the 19th century, he fought this predisposition by starving himself and taking massive doses of laxatives. Sex replaced food for him. Byron was a real Casanova of his time; 250 women passed through his bed in Venice in just one year. His list of victories included Lady Caroline Lamb (her famous description of Byron: “He is evil, crazy, dangerous to deal with!”), his cousin Anne Isabella Milbanke (who became Lady Byron in 1815) and, presumably his half-sister Augusta Lee. However, George Gordon did not limit himself to just one gender. Byron had many homosexual relationships, often with underage boys. In general, in Byron's circle there would not be many living beings with whom he had never entered into sexual contact, well, perhaps exotic animals that he kept for the sake of friendship.

As a consequence, Byron became the most famous rake in Europe. His poetic achievements never attracted such intense attention as the wild rumors that accompanied him everywhere. Oddly enough, one of the most popular rumors was that Byron drinks wine from a skull. (Some said that this was the skull of a monk, others that it was the skull of a former mistress... As we see, rumors tried to overshadow reality.) Lady Byron's adventures got in the way of her husband, and already in 1816, just a year after the wedding, she filed for divorce. Then Byron, leaving England, moved to continental Europe and never returned. This was the only way to escape the watchful eye of the British public.

Byron spent the summer of 1816 in Switzerland with his personal physician, John Polidori. They struck up a friendship with the young poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his fiancée Mary Godwin. In rainy weather, the company amused itself by writing scary stories. Mary wrote the outline of what would become the famous novel Frankenstein, and Polidori, inspired by Byron, wrote the story “The Vampire.” The story of a brilliant English nobleman who drinks the blood of innocent victims has been proven to have a significant influence on Bram Stoker and his Dracula.

From Switzerland, Byron headed to Italy, where he had an affair with another married woman, Countess Teresa Guiccioli. He lived there until 1823, and then went to meet his destiny in Greece - to help the Greeks in the fight against the Turkish yoke. Despite his complete lack of experience in military affairs, Byron trained troops and collected the money needed by the rebel forces. In Greece, he is still considered a national hero.

Before he could see the troops he formed in action, Byron caught a fever and died on Easter Sunday 1824. Soon after Byron's death (all of England mourned his death), his friends gathered in London to read out the poet's memoirs. The manuscript was full of colorful descriptions of Byron's love affairs, which, according to friends, could damage his heroic reputation, gained through hard work. Deciding that the memories should under no circumstances be published, the friends set them on fire.

THIS IS THE COLLECTION!

In an era when photography had not yet been invented, Byron came up with an ingenious way to preserve the memory of his former lovers. He cut off a strand of pubic hair from each, put it in an envelope and wrote the woman's name on the envelope. In the 1980s, the envelopes and their curly contents were still kept in the publishing house where Byron was published. Then their trace is lost.

AND A NIECE AND A DAUGHTER

Among Byron's countless love affairs there was an affair with his own half-sister, Augusta Lee. She was married at that time, but since a person decided to commit incest, what is someone else’s marriage to him? Many modern scholars believe that Augusta's daughter Medora was actually the product of Byron's love affairs, and thus the poet's biography looks even more confusing than we all previously thought.

LOVE TO THE ANIMALS

In addition to married women and young boys, Byron also loved animals. His menagerie included horses, geese, monkeys, a badger, a fox, a parrot, an eagle, a crow, a heron, a falcon, a crocodile, five peacocks, two guinea fowl and an Egyptian crane. As a student at Cambridge, Byron kept a bear as a pet - this was a playful protest against the university rules that prohibited keeping dogs in the dormitory. In one of his letters, George Gordon even wrote that his shaggy comrade “represents brotherhood.”

Byron also had more familiar animals. He traveled with five cats, one of which was named Beppo (the name of one of Byron's poems). Perhaps the most famous of Byron's four-legged friends is his Newfoundland, Botswain, who died in 1808 at the age of five from rabies. Byron immortalized Botswain in his poem “Epitaph for a Dog” and erected a monument to him in the family crypt, which is larger in size than the monument to the poet himself.

Lady Byron did not share her husband's love of fauna. After the divorce, she meaningfully wrote: “The reason for the affectionate and humane attitude of some individuals prone to tyranny towards animals is that animals do not serve as examples of rationality and therefore cannot condemn the immorality of their owner.”

BLEEDING

The death of thirty-six-year-old Byron could have been avoided - it was a by-product of one of the most pseudoscientific medical technologies of the 19th century. After a horse ride in the rain in the Greek outback, the poet developed a fever, and doctors literally healed him with bloodletting until he died. Trying to “drain” the source of the heat, they stuck twelve leeches to Byron’s temples. In addition, they stuffed him with castor oil to cause diarrhea - another common practice in those days, which modern medical luminaries consider idiotic. As a result, the team of leeches sucked about two liters of blood from the patient, already weakened by fever. It is not surprising that Byron began to rave, shouting something incoherent in English and Italian. Perhaps he called his lawyer. Less than a day passed before he died.

LORD BYRON WAS A VERY CASANOVA OF HIS TIME. IN VENICE, IN JUST ONE YEAR, 250 WOMEN WENT THROUGH HIS BED (AND FROM TIME TO TIME, YOUNG PEOPLE WAS THERE, too).

LAST LOOK

Byron dreamed of being buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey. However, he was denied such an honor - allegedly his biography was too outrageous and scandalous for him to rest next to such luminaries of virtue as Geoffrey Chaucer and Edmund Spenser. Byron's body found refuge in the family burial vault at Hucknall Torquard. In June 1938, Byron's peace was disturbed. It is unclear for what purpose the check was carried out, and forty people, having opened the tomb, broke in, apparently hoping to look at the poet’s body. However, by the time the coffin lid was lifted, only the three bravest onlookers remained in the crypt. One of them subsequently wrote that the poet’s body “remained in excellent preservation.” Apart from the missing heart and brain (removed during the autopsy) and right leg, Byron looked good - especially for a man who had died 114 years earlier. One of the eyewitnesses noted that “the poet’s reproductive organ was unnaturally enlarged.” Well, even after death, Byron managed to laugh at the uninvited guests. The next day they sealed the crypt again and left Byron's body to rest in peace.

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