What do you think of Lord Byron?
- Thread starter stj
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Hysterically he once rhymed "Jesus" with "squeeze us!" He had a good sense of humor.
Not a major fan. The Byronic Hero has never really appealed to me, so I can't say I've been able to read much of his work. And since his own life was essentially the embodiment of that particular heroic mode, I can't say his personage seems all that interesting or illuminating to me either. None of this is surprising given that Romanticism as a movement doesn't appeal to me much either.
I much prefer something closer to Transcendental Idealism or even Existentialism (yes, I think they're closer concepts than most would say), although blended with elements of Aestheticism.
I much prefer something closer to Transcendental Idealism or even Existentialism (yes, I think they're closer concepts than most would say), although blended with elements of Aestheticism.
Wasn't Byron Jeffery Sinclair's favorite poet?
Sadly, the only poem I've read of his (that I know of) is The Destruction of Sennacherib. And that's more because I'm a history nerd than anything to do with poetry. So I guess I can't truly form an educated opinion on this topic.
Just curious what "Byronic Hero" means to you?
Not all that different from the mainstream interpretation of the term, I don't think: a self-indulgent, often unjustifiably arrogant, emotionally-labile, self-destructive "hero" with oodles of charisma and lashings of sexual conquests. Your typical "tall, dark, handsome and dangerous stranger", basically.
It's the emotional lability and self-destructive tendencies that irritate me. I just can't see this sort of character in a heroic light, so inevitably don't see/feel the tragedy, but instead see their fates as deserving and their fame as undeserving, which is the complete opposite of the emotion they're meant to elicit in me. In fact, I often feel they get their just desserts in the end, and I just wish they got bumped off sooner in the story...
That was Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who wrote Sinclair's favorite poem, Ulysseys. I imagine the "The Charge of the Light Brigade" hit a little close to home for the good commander, though.
Not all that different from the mainstream interpretation of the term, I don't think: a self-indulgent, often unjustifiably arrogant, emotionally-labile, self-destructive "hero" with oodles of charisma and lashings of sexual conquests. Your typical "tall, dark, handsome and dangerous stranger", basically.
It's the emotional lability and self-destructive tendencies that irritate me. I just can't see this sort of character in a heroic light, so inevitably don't see/feel the tragedy, but instead see their fates as deserving and their fame as undeserving, which is the complete opposite of the emotion they're meant to elicit in me. In fact, I often feel they get their just desserts in the end, and I just wish they got bumped off sooner in the story...
Ah, a self indulgent whiner who deserved to die. Well, he did oblige you fairly quickly. Thanks for the reply.
For those who don't remember Byron, here's one poem, an epitaph on Castlereagh.
Posterity will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
Stop, traveller, _______.
Other extremely well known poems include The Sonnet on Chillon and She Walks in Beauty Like the Night. Childe Harolde's Pilgrimage was an enormous bestseller in its time, but in retrospect poems like Beppo and the extraordinary comic epic Don Juan are rated higher.
Not all that different from the mainstream interpretation of the term, I don't think: a self-indulgent, often unjustifiably arrogant, emotionally-labile, self-destructive "hero" with oodles of charisma and lashings of sexual conquests. Your typical "tall, dark, handsome and dangerous stranger", basically.
It's the emotional lability and self-destructive tendencies that irritate me. I just can't see this sort of character in a heroic light, so inevitably don't see/feel the tragedy, but instead see their fates as deserving and their fame as undeserving, which is the complete opposite of the emotion they're meant to elicit in me. In fact, I often feel they get their just desserts in the end, and I just wish they got bumped off sooner in the story...
Ah, a self indulgent whiner who deserved to die. Well, he did oblige you fairly quickly. Thanks for the reply.
Well, I meant the heroes he wrote about rather than the man himself when I said their fate was deserving. I don't generally wish real-life individuals an early death.
But it must be admitted that neither do I feel all that much sorrow at his early passing. In some respects his was the archetype upon which modern celebrity culture was founded, and while he had much talent that many modern celebs may lack, I could happily do without the associated publicity frenzies both generated.
If you're interested in a (much!) more sympathetic view of the man than mine, see if you can track down Rupert Everett's documentary from a year or two back which is quite good (though with one or two cringeworthy moments, and some necessary compression of his life).
(edit: it's actually up on youtube)
I don't know or care much about Byron the man, but I've enjoyed what I've read of his poetry.
On the one hand, he wrote one of my favourite poems, "Darkness".
On the other hand, one of my favourite pieces of modern chamber music is Arnold Schoenberg's setting of Byron's "Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte" for voice and piano quintet.
On the one hand, he wrote one of my favourite poems, "Darkness".
On the other hand, one of my favourite pieces of modern chamber music is Arnold Schoenberg's setting of Byron's "Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte" for voice and piano quintet.
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