Lord Byron: life, byronic hero, Don Juan, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Inglese

Scarica Lord Byron: life, byronic hero, Don Juan e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Lord Byron (1788-1824) Life - He was born in London in 1788, and grew up in Scotland - He had a physical problem: clubfoot, but, despite the fact that he was limping, he was a good swimmer - He was educated in Cambridge University, at Trinity College - He was an aristocratic: his family descended from Normans ↳Great-uncle: William Byron "wicked lord" ↳Grand-father: John Byron → "foulweather Jack"; he had a shipwreck in Patagonia: this event inspired his poem 'Don Juan' ↳Father: "mad Jack" he abandoned his family ↳Mother: Catherine Gordon, she was a descendant of king James I (Scotland); she was a strong catholic - One of his lovers described him with the sentence: “Mad, bad and danger to know” ↳ he was bisexual and he also fell in love with young people (both boys and girls) - he was a typical dandy = someone who wants to find beauty in life and in the arts, so someone who wants to enjoy life - In 1809 he got a seat in the House of Lords, thanks to his family's privileges: he got the seat after his great-uncle death, and he inherit the property of Newstead Abbey; but this place was decadent - In the same year (1809) he set off on his Grand Tour of Europe ↳ it was something that only rich people could afford ↳it influenced his works and his style ↳he wrote: 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' it is a recount of the events he lived during his journey, but written in a poetical way; the focus is more on the traveller than on the travel ↳this poem helped raising people’s interest in his works → he was named “the Napoleon of Poetry”, because it was revolutionary, was expanding and relentless - 1814 → he went back to England now he starts living fully as a dandy: he starts having affairs (love stories), scandals and multiple women ↳ Ada Lovelace was Byron’s daughter and she contributed is the creation of the first analytical engine - 1815 → he got married but they immediately separated because of his lifestyle as a dandy + society at first tolerated this behaviour for a time, then he lost all the admiration from the society, which didn't accept his behaviour anymore, they stopped speaking to him - 1816 → he left England, after separating from his wife (he will never come back to England) ↳ so he started travelling → Switzerland (Geneva): here he stayed in Villa Diodati with the owner John Polidori, and author + Mary Shelley (and her husband); in fact intellectuals used to gather together in private properties ↳ ↳ that period was called: 'The year without summer'→ it was very cold and gloomy ↳ They made a bet→ who wrote the most terrifying story: > Byron: One canto of Don Juan > The Shelleys(p.b & Mary): “The Wampyre” → Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (she was 19 when she wrote it) - He comes to Italy in 1819 ↳ Milan: where he comes in contact with Pellico and Monti+ Venice (harem) He learned Italian and Armenian ↳ 1821 he is Ravenna, then Pisa, then Leghorn (Livorno) Her daughter Allegra and one of his friends (P. Shelly) died in Ravenna ↳ 1822 he went to Genova → swimming competition - He started getting sick - 1823: he went to Kefalonia (Greece) here he had his last controversial love: a clever 15yo boy, he profited of his money, Byron spent a lot of boy to satisfy this boy. 30.000 in a month - He wanted to participate in the Greece independence war vs the Ottomans, some historians said that he could became the king of Greece if they won - 1824: he died very young in Missolonghi, his body taken back to England. There was a big funeral with 47 carriages, his heart was cut away and buried in Greece. - when his dog died he wrote an epitaph and built a mausoleum, Boatswains was the name of the dog - ⇨We can’t separate his life from his poetry, because he’s a controversial figure Byronic hero Lord Byron gave birth to the Byronic hero. He was similar to a romantic hero: melancholic, rebellious against society and morality of the time, he refused it, he was clever and confident, proud irresistible to women, he was a dandy. - Proud moody and cynical “I'm so changeable, being everything by turns and nothing long-such a strange melange of good and evil”. ↳ he had some influences from Hamlet Shakespeare, and Goethe “The sorrows of young Werther”.