George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (1788-1824) was an English poet, who became the symbol of Romanticism and political liberalism throughout Europe in the 19th century.

Biography:

His reputation was established with the first two cantos of Guide Harold 1812. Later works include The Prisoner of Chillon in 1816, Beppo in 1818, Mazeppa in 1819, and, most notably, Don Juan 1819-1824. He left England in 1816, spending most of his later life in Italy.

Born in London, Byron succeeded his great-uncle to the title in 1798. Educated at Harrow and Cambridge, he published his first volume Hours of Idleness in 1807, and attacked its harsh critics in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers in 1809. Overnight fame came with the first two cantos of Guide Harold, romantically describing his t ours in Portugal, Spain, and the Balkans (third canto in 1816, fourth in 1818).

In 1815 he married the mathematician Anne Milbanke (1792-1860) by whom he had a daughter, Augusta Ada Byron, separating from her a year later amid much scandal.

He then went to Europe where he became friendly with Percy and Mary Shelley. He engaged in Italian revolutionary politics, and sailed for Greece in 1823 to further the Greek struggle for independence, but died of fever at Missolonghi.

He is remembered for his lyrics, his colloquially easy Letters, and, particularly in Europe, as the "patron saint" of romantic liberalism. His friend Thomas Moore wrote one of the first biographies of Byron.

Why is Lord Byron famous?

Lord Byron was an English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement.

Lord Byron Lists

	1788 births
	1824 deaths
	Aberdeen Grammar School alumni
	Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
	Anglo-Scots
	Barons in the Peerage of England
	English poets
	LGBT writers from the United Kingdom
	Lord Byron
	Old Harrovians
	People from London
	People of the Greek War of Independence
	Philhellenes
	Regency era
	Romantic poets
	Byron family

---

 

Lord Byron Pictures

---

Tags: symbol, critics, liberalism

[edit tags]

---

Category: Poets  - ( Poets Archive)

Date Added: 14 November '11

---

Add a link to this page on any related website, blog or forum using this code :

---