Today I depart somewhat from my usual manner of posting, and provide for your edification a piece I wrote as an introduction to an English author of great renown: Lord Byron. Below the introduction I include his poem "When We Two Parted," as well as a portion of "Mazeppa," which includes one of my favorite Byron quotes (italicized). I hope by the second piece to lessen the mournful mood "When We Two Parted" may leave you in - an effect I find rather unfortunate, as I wish to share Byron's poetic genius without depressing anybody, myself included!
Lord Byron's “When We Two Parted”
An Introduction by Caitlin Clancy
Born
in 1788, George Gordon, the sixth Lord Byron, became a prominent English Romantic
satirist and poet. A handsome and
“flamboyant” man, Byron was given to excessive promiscuous behavior, which eventually
led to public scandal and his being ostracized** from society. In 1816, he left England permanently and
died in Greece in 1824. During his
life, Byron was characterized by certain rather narcissistic characteristics,
including a keen desire for sympathy, a passionate yearning for public notice,
and a failure to accept criticism well.
Whatever his character flaws, though, Byron captivated
his audience with the image of himself in his writings and with a sharp
and honest mind that continuously probed skepticism’s furthest reaches. His works, encompassing a broad
spectrum, include the satirical English Bards and Scotch Reviewers as well as Don Juan, Byron’s
masterwork, which reveals his artfulness as a storyteller, his lyrical and
cynical qualities, as well as his abhorrence for convention. This attitude towards convention in
particular was prominent among romantics. While authors of the preceding neoclassic period
(roughly 1660-1800) adhered more to traditional forms and held innovation
suspect, the romantics reversed this tendency and viewed poetry as a spontaneous
endeavor stemming from the author’s emotions and unconfined by strict forms. Romanticism, unlike neoclassicism, encouraged
readers to view the protagonist as the poet himself. In “When We Two Parted,” for example, one might see the
speaker as Byron farewelling the mistress of one of his numerous liaisons. Additionally, romantic characters were
often misfits or outsiders to society, and Byron’s invention, the “Byronic
hero,” fits this category: such a hero has a significant crime hidden in his
past and is characterized by being solitary, insubordinate, and enigmatic. Byron’s legacy as a poet, it would seem,
both encompassed and surpassed his faults as a man, leading some to place him
among the great Romantics.
| When we Two parted |
| WHEN we two parted | |
| In silence and tears, | |
| Half broken-hearted | |
| To sever for years, | |
| Pale grew thy cheek and cold, | 5 |
| Colder thy kiss; | |
| Truly that hour foretold | |
| Sorrow to this. | |
| The dew of the morning | |
| Sunk chill on my brow— | 10 |
| It felt like the warning | |
| Of what I feel now. | |
| Thy vows are all broken, | |
| And light is thy fame: | |
| I hear thy name spoken, | 15 |
| And share in its shame. | |
| They name thee before me, | |
| A knell to mine ear; | |
| A shudder comes o'er me— | |
| Why wert thou so dear? | 20 |
| They know not I knew thee, | |
| Who knew thee too well: | |
| Long, long shall I rue thee, | |
| Too deeply to tell. | |
| In secret we met— | 25 |
| In silence I grieve, | |
| That thy heart could forget, | |
| Thy spirit deceive. | |
| If I should meet thee | |
| After long years, | 30 |
| How should I greet thee? | |
| With silence and tears. (This text may be found at http://www.bartleby.com/101/597.html) From "Mazeppa":
...Up rose the sun; the mists were curled
Which lay around - behind - before; What booted it to traverse o'er Plain, forest, river? Man nor brute, Nor dint of hoof, nor print of foot, Lay in the wild luxuriant soil; No sign of travel - none of toll; The very air was mute: And not an insect's shrill small horn, Nor matin bird's new voice was borne From herb nor thicket. Many a werst, Panting as if his heart would burst, The weary brute still staggered on; And still we were - or seemed - alone: At length, while reeling on our way, Methought I heard a courser neigh, From out yon tuft of blackening firs. Is it the wind those branches stirs? No, no! from out the forest prance A trampling troop; I see them come I In one vast squadron they advance! I strove to cry - my lips were dumb. The steeds rush on in plunging pride; But where are they the reins to guide? A thousand horse - and none to ride! With flowing tail, and flying mane, Wide nostrils never stretched by pain, Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein, And feet that iron never shod, And flanks unscarred by spur or rod, A thousand horse, the wild, the free, Like waves that follow o'er the sea, ...
(from http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/lbyron/bl-lbyron-mazeppa.htm)
|
Works
Cited (these pertain to the Introduction)
Snyder, Robert Lance. "George Gordon, Lord
Byron." Critical Survey Of Poetry,
Second Revised Edition (2002): 1. Biography
Reference Center. Abbot Vincent Taylor Library. 28 Apr. 2012.
"George Gordon Noel Byron Byron, 6th
Baron." Columbia Electronic
Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2010): 1. Biography
Reference Center. Abbot Vincent Taylor Library. 28 Apr. 2012.
“Recollections
of the Life of Lord Byron, from the Year 1808 to the End of 1814 by R. C. Dallas; Correspondence of Lord Byron with a Friend;
Including His Letters to His Mother; In 1809, 1810, and 1811 by Byron; Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron;
Noted during a Residence with His Lordship at Pisa, in the Years 1821 and 1822
by Thomas Medwin.” North American Review 21.49 (Oct. 1825): 300-359. JSTOR. Abbot Vincent Taylor Library. 30
Apr. 2012.
Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms, Sixth Edition.
Fort Worth: Harcourt, 1993. 125-129. Print.
