Byron (1788- 1824), a unique and talented poet, is a pen in his hand in the turbulent romantic literary world. On the political stage where national liberation is in full swing, he is also a strong warrior in military uniform, fighting for democracy and freedom. Byron, only 36 years old, was called/kloc-0 by critics as a passionate British poet satirizing the real society in the early 9th century.
1October 22nd, george gordon byron was born in a rented humble house in London, England. Byron was born into an old and declining aristocratic family.
The mind of disabled children requires perfection.
It is ancient because the Byron family came to England from Normandy with William the Conqueror earlier. During the Crusades in the16th century, they made outstanding achievements and were rewarded by successive kings and made lords. Byron, who was a baby, never imagined that when he was 10 years old, he would become the owner of the hereditary territory of Newstad.
John byron, the father of the poet Byron, was educated in the French Army School when he was young. After graduation, he became a bodyguard of the British army. He is violent and rude, likes to drink and gamble, and owes huge debts. Shortly after returning to London from the United States at the age of 20, he kidnapped the Marquise Calmercer and squandered the 4,000 pounds of annual income that the Marquise inherited from her father. However, 4000 pounds can't maintain his luxurious life and huge gambling debts. They had to leave England and flee to France. There, she gave birth to her daughter Augusta, the poet Byron's half-sister, Byron's closest friend, who had an important influence on Byron's life and creation. Shortly after giving birth to her daughter, Marquise Calmercer died of illness.
The prodigal son who lost 4000 pounds quietly returned to England and took a fancy to a girl named Kathryn Gordon who was born in a Scottish aristocratic family. Although she is ugly, she owns 23,000 pounds of property, of which 3,000 pounds is in cash, which is too tempting for him, because it can pay off her gambling debts in the past. 1784 In May, they got married in Bath Hot Springs. This lady is Byron's mother. The newlyweds returned to Gordon's home in North Scotland, but his gambling, good wine and wandering life soon squandered Gordon's property. The couple sold their land and property, moved to France, and lived in poverty day by day.
1787 Summer, pregnant Mrs. john byron returned to London single because she missed her hometown. The thrifty Scottish woman rented a house in a street in London and settled down, but her husband was still wandering in France to escape the debt. When he has no money, he often writes to his wife who is not rich. When Byron was 3 years old, his father finally died in the poverty of "no shirt, no penny, and the only dress was riddled with holes". It is said that he committed suicide. Her husband's death was a heavy blow to his wife. In addition, the increasingly poor life and her own misfortune make Byron's mother's character very irritable and moody. Byron spent his childhood in northern Scotland, and his mother was grumpy and poor.
Byron is lame. There are two ways to cause this kind of disability, one is born; On the other hand, because his mother was cruel, she was so angry that she beat him like this. Besides, Byron can be said to be a beautiful boy. He has clear eyes, brown curly hair and fair skin. People like him very much. Byron, in particular, has a good voice and a beautiful voice. Therefore, at Cambridge University, his classmates called him "a gentleman with a beautiful voice".
It's just the physical defect of limping that often makes him feel inferior and miserable.
When he was young, whenever he walked in the street, he always heard people talk about him like this: "Oh, what a beautiful child, but it's a pity that he is lame."
Byron blushed at once, thinking that the speaker had insulted himself. He wiped his tears and said loudly, "Don't you say that about me!" " "One side to the other side.
The tutor turned him into a bookworm.
At the age of four and a half, Byron was sent to Aberdeen School. He is studious, smart and has a good memory, but he is as naughty as all children, and sometimes he plays some practical jokes. His kindness, integrity and loyalty were quickly loved by his friends, but his friendly and irritable temper surprised them. "A very likable child, but difficult to control," a teacher once commented on him.
In addition to studying at school, his mother also hired a tutor in history and Latin for him, and Byron's history addiction was formed from this time. He is precocious and likes reading all kinds of books, especially history books. He often begged his mother to borrow historical story books about Rome, Greece and Turkey from the public library. Whenever night falls, little Byron reads and thinks with novelty, sweetness and a little terror, and wanders in the long river of history. The brilliant military achievements of the ancients have repeatedly aroused Byron's inner heroic dream. He once said to his friends, "One day I will assemble an army. The soldiers will wear black clothes and ride red horses. They will be called Byron's black cavalry. " You are sure to hear about our amazing miracle. "
Byron would never have thought that this miracle really appeared 30 years later. He really became the commander-in-chief of a Greek allied army, and came to the end of his life with his helmet, sword and black cloak.
Byron is a clever student, but he doesn't study hard and his grades are not outstanding, but he reads a lot. He later recalled: "People never saw me reading, always slacking off, playing tricks or playing games. In fact, when I eat, I study in bed and when no one is reading. I have read all the books since I was five years old. " After reading the Bible, Byron became interested in the mysterious and legendary eastern world, especially the Arabian Nights.
At school, Byron is not only famous for his good conversation and extensive reading, but also for his enterprising spirit. Whenever someone laughs at his disability and bullies him, he can always beat his opponent with great courage. If he was beaten once, he would surely pay it back twice. This kind of courage and struggle is the greatest feature of his life.
Byron claimed that he had no religious belief all his life, but in his early years he was deeply influenced by his Latin tutor, a devout Calvinist. In Byron's childhood mind, he was imbued with Calvinism day and night, and the belief of taking pleasure in suffering penetrated into the deepest part of Byron's personality. Byron's nanny, Megray, is also passionate about religion and often tells him about immortals, heaven and hell. Those impressions will naturally stay in his mind. The influence of this religion can be seen in his later masterpiece Manfred.
1798, the owner of Newstad, known as the "Lord of the Evil King", Byron's granduncle and heir died one after another. According to the hereditary system of titles at that time, 10-year-old Byron became the sixth generation Lord. The next day, when he went to the school to attend the roll call, the headmaster no longer called him "Byron", but called him "Byron". He should have answered the word "yes", but at this time he swallowed hard and immediately cried with a "wow".
This autumn, Byron left Aberdeen, where he had lived for many years, with his mother and nanny, and went to Newstead Manor to accept his inheritance.
His enthusiasm for extracurricular reading made him an excellent poet.
180 1 year, in order to match Byron's aristocratic status and position, the family decided to send him to the famous Harrow College. This school, founded by John Lynn in 157 1, has cultivated many famous figures in British history, among which Prime Minister Churchill, who worshipped Byron, graduated from this school.
This year, Byron 13 years old.
Joseph Drewry, then president of Harrow College, received this talented, handsome and noble boy with a disabled leg in his study. After the talk, the headmaster immediately found out: "What I was given was a pony that was used to the wild in the mountains." However, from his eyes, he is thoughtful. "
In the days of Harrow College, Byron didn't study hard in the formal class as usual, but at the critical moment, he was able to write thirty or forty Latin verses with a stroke of a pen. He is not interested in textbooks, but he is keen on extracurricular reading and extensive reading, thus gaining rich knowledge. "Lazy and knowledgeable" is the characteristic of his middle school days.
Young and mature Byron also began to pay attention to society and the times.
Nottingham, where Neustad is located, is not only famous for its feudal medieval ruins and the legend of Robin Hood's outlaw, but also the' big industrial center' of Britain at that time, the earliest area of the industrial revolution and one of the most important birthplaces of the workers' movement. When Byron was very young, he heard that Nottingham workers destroyed machines first. Byron grew up in a period of great changes in British and world history. He was born in the vigorous French Revolution and the magnificent struggle for independence, freedom and liberation of people all over the world, and witnessed various events such as worker-peasant uprising and mutiny caused by the intensification of class contradictions.
Byron was keenly aware that he was a man of revolutionary times whose life and society were changing and developing. In his letter to Scott on May 4th, 1822, he said, "We live in a great era. When everything succumbs to evil forces on a large scale, everything seems small. "
This is Byron's feeling and impression when he was young.
Byron has been eager to take part in social activities since he was a student. When he was at Harrow College, he was addicted to practicing speaking. 1on April 2, 807, he wrote a letter to his guardian john henson, saying that an orator is far better than a poet. At the same time, he said that if he is currently engaged in writing poetry, it will be temporary, because he is not yet an adult and cannot participate in political activities. Byron studied the parliamentary debates from 17 to 18 with great interest. 1807, among the books he recorded, political science and history accounted for a large proportion. Byron also widely read the works of Enlightenment and materialist philosophy, such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Locke and others, which Byron highly praised.
Byron, full of fantasy, often came to the church on the top of Harrow alone with these books under his arm, surrounded by a cemetery. Byron sat on a tombstone under the big elm tree, reading and thinking. This is a quiet corner, the wind is blowing gently, the leaves are rustling, and Byron's thoughts can float into the distance. ...
Throughout Byron's life, the pace of his progress is heavy, his efforts are painful, and the price he paid is huge. The noble personality of justice and the mediocre aristocratic habits have been fighting sharply and fiercely in his heart.
He was disappointed, but never despaired; He used to be sad and indifferent, but he was not pessimistic; He has been lonely and melancholy, but he is more worried about the country and the people; He failed, but he fought again. His servants got up again and again and gave his fortune with a pen and a sword until he gave his life.
Byronic heroes: In Byron's oriental narrative poems, a group of chivalrous tough guys appeared. They are pirates, pagans and exiles. Most of them are arrogant, lonely and stubborn rebels. They are out of tune with the criminal society, fighting against fate alone and pursuing freedom always end in failure. Byron showed his uncompromising resistance to society through their struggle, and also reflected his own depression, loneliness and hesitation. Because these images have the author's own thoughts and personality characteristics, they are called "Byronic heroes".
"Byronic hero" refers to a kind of characters in Byron's works. They are arrogant and stubborn, dissatisfied with reality, demanding to rise up and resist, and their character is rebellious; But at the same time, it seems melancholy, lonely, pessimistic, divorced from the masses, going its own way, and never finding the right way out. For example, Harold, the son of Childe Haller's Travels, Conrad, the hero of The Pirate (*The Corsair, 18 14), Manfred, the hero of the philosophical drama, and so on.
The thoughts and personalities of these characters are contradictory: on the one hand, they love life, pursue happiness, have fiery passion, strong love and extraordinary personality; Dare to despise the current system, and swear revenge with social evil forces, therefore, they are rebels and avengers of evil society. On the other hand, they are arrogant and independent, secretive and extreme. Their ideological basis is individualism and liberalism. They separated themselves from the masses in the struggle and had no clear goal, so they ended in failure.
Byronic hero is the product of the opposition between individual and society, and it is also the artistic reflection of the author's ideological characteristics and weaknesses. This kind of characters appeared in Byron's works one after another, which was of progressive significance to the violent impact of British feudal order and bourgeois society at that time. However, their individualism, anarchism and pessimism often bring negative effects to readers. Russian literary critic Elinski and poet Pushkin both pointed out the ideological weakness and harmfulness of "Byronic hero".
Byron left England forever in April 18 16. A biographer said that he was "driven out of the country, and his money belt and heart were ruined." He left and never came back; But after he left, he found new inspiration by the rapids of the Jon River and wrote works that made his name immortal under the Italian sky. "
18 16, Byron lived in Switzerland and met another exiled poet Shelley in Geneva. Their hatred of British rule and their love of poetry made them close friends.
Byron wrote Childe Haller's Travels (18 16-1817), the story poem Priessner of Qilun (1816) and the tragedy Man Don Juan, the representative work, is Byron's most important group of poems, which is half poetic, half harmonious, half narrative and half argument, with realistic content, strange, relaxed and ironic brushwork. After the first and second chapters were published anonymously, they immediately caused great repercussions. British newspapers defending bourgeois decency rose up and attacked it, accusing it of attacking religion and morality, which was "a mockery of decency, good feelings and the code of conduct necessary for maintaining society" and "disgusting to every normal mind", and so on.
But it is also highly respected. Writer Walter Scott said that Don Juan was "as comprehensive as Shakespeare, he covered every topic of life, plucked every string on the sacred piano and played the smallest, strongest and most shocking tune." Goethe, a poet, said, "Don Juan is a work of complete genius-cynical to the point of almost desperate vitriol, gentle to delicate and touching feelings ...". After the sixteenth chapter of Don Juan was written, Byron was ready to devote himself to the national liberation movement in Greece.
This is the last and most brilliant page in the poet's life. He hated both holy alliance's oppression of European nations and Turkish rule of Greece. 1824, Byron was busy preparing for the war. It's a pity that he caught a cold in the rain and couldn't afford to get sick. He died on April 65438, 2009. His death made the Greek people extremely sad, and the whole country mourned for 2 1 day.
Looking back on his life, his poems and his spirit is enough to convince anyone who can feel it: Byron is not only a great poet, but also a poet that is always needed in the world, laughing at his meanness and inspiring him to take higher actions.