byron, shelley, and keats
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Byron, Shelley, and Keats. Basically, they were the early 1800s’ answer to Justin Bieber . . Lord Byron. “The only peer poet I am familiar with is Lord Byron, and I presume we all know how that ended.” –Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham. So who was he?. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Byron, Shelley, and Keats
Basically, they were the early 1800s’ answer to Justin Bieber.
Lord Byron
“The only peer poet I am familiar with is Lord Byron, and I presume we all know how that ended.” –Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham
So who was he?
• George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron• Born January 22, 1788 in London• Died April 19, 1824 in the Ottoman Empire
(modern-day Greece) • Left England, never to return, in 1816• Died of illness while aiding the Greek army in
battles against the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire
What did he write?
• Don Juan, a poetic tale of one of literature’s greatest jerks
• Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage– Created idea of the Byronic hero (a strong, moody
man)• She Walks in Beauty
Why is he interesting?
• The most notorious and most excess of the Romantics
• Owed huge debts• Numerous love affairs with both sexes– Had at least one, possibly two, illegitimate children
• Rumors of an incestuous relationship with his sister
• He is largely responsible for the Romantics’ reputation
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Who was he?
• Born August 4, 1792 at Field Place in Sussex, England
• Died July 8, 1822 in a lake in Lerici, Sardinia (modern-day Italy)– Drowned– Possibly suicide
• Married twice• Three children
What did he write?
• Ode to the West Wind• Ozymandias• The Masque of Anarchy• To a Skylark• When Soft Voices Die• When the Lamp is Shattered
Why is he interesting?
• He was friends with Lord Byron. • His personal life was a mess. • His second wife wrote Frankenstein.• He influenced many writers (both British and
not) over the next century.
John Keats
• Bright Star
Who was he?
• Born on October 31, 1795 in London• Died of tuberculosis on February 23, 1821 in
Rome• He never married. • His one great love was his “Bright Star,”
Frances Brawne.• He is one of the saner Romantics.
What did he write?
• Bright Star • On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer• A Thing of Beauty• La Belle Dame Sans Merci (The Beautiful
Woman without Mercy) • Ode on a Grecian Urn
Why is he interesting?
• Inspired writers such as Jorge Luis Borges• Writer of the great odes of the Romantics• One of the most popular English poets of all
time• His personal life was shockingly boring.