Byron short biography. In modern music

George Gordon Byron was born on January 22, 1788 in London. The boy was immediately given a double surname.

On his father's side he became Byron. The Byrons' ancestry dates back to the Normans, who settled in England during the time of William the Conqueror and received lands in the county of Nottingham. In 1643, King Charles I gave Sir John Byron the title of Lord. The poet's grandfather rose to the rank of vice admiral and was famous for his unluckiness. He was nicknamed Stormy Jack because as soon as his crew set sail, a storm immediately broke out. In 1764, Byron was sent on a voyage around the world on the ship "Dauphin", but during this campaign he managed to discover only the Disappointment Islands, although there were still many unknown archipelagos around - they were not noticed. In the only naval battle he fought as a naval commander, Byron suffered a crushing defeat. He was no longer trusted with command of the fleet.

Jack Bad Weather's eldest son, John Byron, graduated from the French Military Academy, joined the Guard, and almost a child participated in the American wars. There, for his bravery, he received the nickname Mad Jack. Returning to London, Byron seduced the wealthy Baroness Conyers and fled with her to France, where the fugitive gave birth to a daughter, Her Grace Augusta Byron, the poet’s only half-sister (August later played a sinister role in Byron’s fate), and died. Mad Jack had no means of livelihood left, but luck did not abandon the rake. Soon enough, he met his wealthy bride, Catherine Gordon Gate, at the fashionable resort of Bath. Outwardly, the girl was “ugly” - short, plump, long-nosed, too ruddy, but after the death of her father she inherited substantial capital, a family estate, salmon fisheries and shares in the Aberdeen Bank.

The ancient Scottish family of Gordons was related to the royal Stuart dynasty. The Gordons were famous for their furious temper, many ended their lives on the gallows, and one of them, John Gordon II, was hanged in 1634 for the murder of Wallenstein himself. Many famous Scottish ballads tell of the exploits of the crazy Gordons. But by the end of the 18th century the genus was almost extinct. The poet's great-grandfather drowned, his grandfather drowned himself. To prevent the family from disappearing completely, Katherine’s son was given a second surname - Gordon.

Newborn George was very beautiful, but as soon as he stood up, his family saw with horror that the boy was limping. It turned out that the shy mother had greatly tightened her womb during pregnancy; as a result, the fetus was in the wrong position and had to be pulled out during childbirth. In this case, the ligaments on the child’s legs were incurably damaged.

John Byron acted vilely with his second wife and her son. By deception, he squandered Catherine’s fortune, estate, and shares and fled to France, where he died in 1791 at the age of thirty-six. It was rumored that the adventurer had committed suicide. Little George never forgot his father and admired his military exploits.

Catherine and baby Geordie moved closer to her family in the Scottish city of Aberdeen, where she rented furnished rooms for a reasonable fee and hired two maids - sisters May and Agnes Gray. May looked after the boy.

The child grew up kind and obedient, but was extremely hot-tempered. One day the nanny scolded him for his soiled dress. Geordie tore off his clothes and, looking sternly at May Gray, silently tore the dress from top to bottom.

Events in little Byron's life developed very quickly. At the age of five he went to school; at the age of nine, George fell in love for the first time - with his cousin Mary Duff; and when the boy was ten years old, his great-uncle Lord William Byron died, and the peerage and family estate of Newstead Abbey near Nottingham passed to George. The young lord was assigned a guardian, Lord Carlyle, who was a distant relative of Byron. The boy and his mother and May Gray moved to their own estate. The ancient house was located near the famous Sherwood Forest, on the shore of a large lake, half overgrown with reeds.

In the autumn of 1805, Byron entered Trinity College, Cambridge University. Now he began to receive pocket money. However, as soon as the young man had money, George abandoned his studies, settled in a separately rented apartment, took a mistress of whores, and hired boxing and fencing teachers. Having learned about this, Mrs. Byron threw a huge scandal at her son and tried to kill him with fireplace tongs and a dustpan. George had to hide from his mother for some time.

At Cambridge, Byron was already writing poetry. One day he showed his writings to Elizabeth Pigot, the sister of his college friend John Pigot. The girl was delighted and persuaded the author to publish his writings. In 1806, Byron published the book “Poems for Occasion” for a narrow circle of friends. A year later, the collection "Leisure Hours - by George Gordon Lord Byron, a minor" followed. Critics ridiculed him for this book. The poet was wounded to the core and for some time thought about suicide.

On July 4, 1808, Byron received his master's degree and left Cambridge. He returned home on the eve of his coming of age. It's time to assume your peerage. The young man presented himself in the House of Lords and took the oath of office on March 13, 1809. Lord Ildon presided.

Almost immediately after this, Byron and his closest friend from Cambridge, John Cam Hobhouse, set off on a journey - through Lisbon through Spain to Gibraltar, from there by sea to Albania, where they were invited by the Turkish despot Ali Pasha Tepelensky, known for his courage and cruelty. The pasha's residence was in Ioannina. There Byron was met by a small, gray-haired seventy-year-old old man who was known for roasting his enemies on a spit and once drowned twelve women in the lake who did not please his daughter-in-law. From Albania, the travelers headed to Athens, then they visited Constantinople, Malta... Only on July 17, 1811, Lord Byron returned to London and stayed there for a short time on personal matters when news arrived that on August 1, his mother had suddenly died of a stroke in Newstead.

Having buried his closest person, Byron decided to seek solace in parliamentary activities. On February 27, 1812, he made his first speech in the House of Lords - against the Tory bill on the death penalty for weavers who deliberately broke the newly invented knitting machines.

And on the last day of February 1812, a significant event took place in the history of world poetry. The fact is that from his trip Byron brought back the manuscript of an autobiographical poem written in Spencerian stanzas, telling the story of a sad wanderer who is destined to experience disappointment in the sweet hopes and ambitious hopes of his youth. The poem was called "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." The book with the first two songs of the poem was published on February 29, 1812, on this day one of the greatest poets, George Gordon Byron, appeared to the world.

Secular society was shocked by the masterpiece. For several months in London they talked only about Byron, admired and admired him. The lionesses of high society organized a real hunt for the poet.

The daughter-in-law of Byron's good friend Lord Melbourne, Lady Caroline Lamb, described her impressions of her first meeting with the poet: “An angry, crazy person with whom it is dangerous to deal.” Two days later, when Byron himself came to visit her, Lamb wrote in her diary: “This beautiful pale face will be my destiny.” She became Byron's mistress and did not want to hide this from London society. The poet came to Caroline in the morning and spent whole days in her boudoir. In the end, Lady Lamb's mother and mother-in-law rose to defend Lord Lamb's honor. Oddly enough, the women turned to Byron for help. The three of them began to persuade Caroline to return to her husband. But madly in love with the poet, the lady did not want to listen to anything. To finally bring her to her senses, Byron asked Caroline's cousin Annabella Milbank for her hand in marriage, but this time he was refused.

During the love epic with Caroline Lamb, when the poor thing even tried to commit suicide during the ball, Byron committed one of the most shameful acts in his life. In January 1814, his half-sister Augusta came to stay with him in Newstead. George fell in love with her and entered into an incestuous relationship. When they separated in early September, Augusta was pregnant. A week later, Byron again asked Annabella Milbank for her hand in a letter and received consent.

The poet Byron did not stop at Childe Harold. Next, he created a cycle of “Eastern Poems”: “The Giaour” and “The Bride of Abydos” were published in 1813, “The Corsair” and “Lara” - in 1814.

The marriage of Byron and Annabella Milbank took place on January 2, 1815. Two weeks later, Augusta arrived in London, and “life as a threesome” began. And soon it became known that Lord Byron’s condition was very upset, that he had nothing to support his wife. Debts to creditors amounted to an astronomical amount for those times - almost 30,000 pounds. Discouraged, Byron became embittered at the whole world, started drinking, and began blaming his wife for all his troubles.

Frightened by her husband's wild antics, Anabella decided that he had fallen into madness. On December 10, 1815, the woman gave birth to Byron's daughter, Augusta Ada, and on January 15, 1816, taking the baby with her, she left for Leicestershire to visit her parents. A few weeks later, she announced that she would not return to her husband. Later, contemporaries claimed that Anabella was informed about Byron’s incest with Augusta and about his homosexual relationships. Biographers, having studied numerous documents of that time, came to the conclusion that the vast majority of dirty rumors about the poet came from the circle of the vengeful Caroline Lamb.

Byron agreed to live separately from his wife. On April 25, 1816, he left for Europe forever. In the last days before leaving, the poet entered into a love affair with Claire Clermont, the adopted daughter of the philosopher Wollstonecraft Godwin.

Byron first settled in Geneva. Claire Clermont also came here to see him. The girl was accompanied by her half-sister Mary and her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Byron was already familiar with Shelley’s work, but their acquaintance took place only in Switzerland. The poets became friends, and Byron had fatherly feelings for the rapidly growing Shelley family.

Friends visited Chillon Castle together. Both were shocked by what they saw. Upon returning from an excursion in one night, Byron wrote the poetic story “The Prisoner of Chillon”, and Shelley created “Hymn to Spiritual Beauty”. In Geneva, Byron also composed the third song of Childe Harold and began the dramatic poem Manfred.

Fame turned out to be its bad side for the poet. Having learned that the great Byron lived on the shores of Lake Geneva, crowds of curious tourists began to come here. More and more often, looking out the window, the poet came across the eyepieces of his binoculars - curious people were looking out for what kind of woman he was now living with. In the end, I got tired of these persecutions. When Claire gave birth to Byron's daughter Allegra on January 12, 1817, the poet was already living in Italy, where he calmly finished Manfred and began writing the fourth song, Childe Harold.

In Venice, Byron rented the Moncenigo Palace on the Grand Canal. It was here that the satires Beppo and Don Juan were created. Byron broke up with Claire Clermont forever, but at the first opportunity he sent little Allegra to live with him.

Since the poet was constantly short of money, in the fall of 1818 he sold Newstead for 90,000 guineas, paid off his debts and was able to start a quiet, prosperous life. Every year for the publication of his works, Byron received a gigantic amount of money for those times - 7,000 pounds, and if we take into account that he also had annual interest on other real estate in the amount of 3,300 pounds, then we must admit that the lord was one of the richest men in Europe. Growing fat, having grown long hair with glimpses of the first gray hair - this is how he now appeared before his Venetian guests.

But in 1819, Byron's last, deepest love came to him. At one of the social evenings, the poet accidentally met the young Countess Teresa Guiccioli. She was called the “Titian blonde.” The Countess was married, but her husband was forty-four years older than her. When Signor Guiccioli learned about Byron’s hobby, he decided to take his wife to Ravenna, out of harm’s way. On the eve of their departure, Teresa became Byron's mistress and thereby virtually decided his future fate.

In June 1819, the poet followed his lover to Ravenna. He settled in Palazzo Guiccioli and moved little Allegra there. Teresa's father, Count Gamba, who saw his daughter's torment, obtained permission from the Pope for the Countess to live separately from her husband.

His stay in Ravenna became unusually fruitful for Byron: he wrote new songs “Don Juan”, “Dante’s Prophecy”, a historical drama in verse “Marino Faliero”, translated Luigi Pulci’s poem “Great Morgante”...

And then politics intervened in Byron’s fate. Count Gamba and his son Pietro turned out to be participants in the Carbonari conspiracy. They gradually dragged the poet into the conspiracy, since his money could help their cause. Finding himself a participant in a risky business, Byron was forced in March 1821 to send Allegra to a monastery school in Bagnacavallo. Soon the authorities of Ravenna uncovered the plot, and Gamba’s father and son were expelled from the city. Teresa followed them to Florence.

Just at this time, the Shelley family was wandering around Italy. Percy Bish persuaded Byron to come to him in Pisa. News arrived here that Byron's mother-in-law, Lady Noel, had died. She was not angry with her unlucky son-in-law and bequeathed him 6,000 pounds, but on the condition that he take the name Noel, since this family also had no bearer of the name. So the poet ended up with a third surname. From now on, he became fully known as George Noel Gordon Byron. And soon Allegra, abandoned by her father, died. This was the most terrible shock in the last years of the poet’s life.

Misfortunes continued to haunt the exiles. In May 1822, the authorities of Pisa invited them to leave the city. We moved to a villa near Livorno. Three months later, Shelley drowned here, leaving Mary and six uncontrollable children in Byron's care.

Despite any troubles, Byron did not give up his creativity. He intended to create more than fifty songs of Don Juan and thus give the world a huge picaresque novel. The poet managed to finish only sixteen songs and wrote fourteen stanzas of the seventeenth song.

Unexpectedly, the London “Greek Committee” turned to the poet with a request to help Greece in the War of Independence. They counted on his money, but on July 15, 1823, Byron, together with Pietro Gamba and E. J. Trelawney, left Genoa for the island of Cephalonia. The poet fully financed the equipment of the Greek fleet and at the beginning of January 1824 he joined the leader of the Greek uprising, Prince Mavrocordato, in Missolunghi. Byron was given command of a detachment of Souliotes, to whom he paid allowances from his personal funds.

In Greece, Byron caught a cold after swimming in the sea in cold water. Joint pain began, then it developed into convulsions. Doctors talked about an epileptic attack. After some time, improvement came, and Byron, who was very bored, wanted to take a short horse ride. As soon as he drove a relatively long distance from the house, a strong cold downpour began. Two hours after returning from a walk, the poet developed a fever. After suffering from a fever for several days, George Noel Gordon Byron died on April 19, 1824, at the age of thirty-seven.

George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)

Lermontov wrote in 1830:

I'm young; but sounds boil in my heart,

And I would like to reach Byron;

We have the same soul, the same torments, -

Oh, if only the destiny were the same!..

Like him, I search for peace in vain,

We drive everywhere with one thought.

I look back - the past is terrible;

I look ahead - there is no dear soul there.

And although just two years later Lermontov would write: “No, I’m not Byron, I’m different...”, which primarily speaks of rapid internal development, the maturation of an original genius, but the passion for Byron did not pass without a trace for Lermontov.

Pushkin writes variations on Byron’s motifs, K. Batyushkov publishes his free arrangement of the 178th stanza of the Song of the fourth poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” by Byron, Zhukovsky makes free translations of Byron. Vyazemsky, Tyutchev, Venevitinov have poems from Byron...

Many Russian fellow writers responded to the death of the English poet. We read Pushkin’s famous “To the Sea” and do not remember that this poem (“Farewell, free elements!..”), as Pushkin said, “a small memorial for the repose of the soul of the servant of God Byron.”

All of the above reminds us that Byron was extremely popular in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. In general, there was no more famous poet in Europe at that time. Dostoevsky explains it this way: “Byronism appeared in a moment of terrible melancholy of people, their disappointment and almost despair. After the frenzied delight of a new faith in new ideals, proclaimed at the end of the last century in France... a great and powerful genius, a passionate poet, appeared. Its sounds echoed the then melancholy of humanity and its gloomy disappointment in its destiny and in the ideals that deceived it. This was a new and unheard-of muse of revenge and sadness, curse and despair. The spirit of Byronism suddenly swept through all of humanity, and all of it responded to it.”

Byron's rather short life was filled with the struggle for freedom and national independence; his freedom-loving lyre called for the overthrow of despotism and tyranny; he opposed wars of conquest. He left England to take part in the Italian and Greek Wars of Independence. In a word, he was a brilliant personality.

The poet was born in London on January 22, 1788. On his father's side, he belonged to a very ancient, but already degenerating family. His father squandered his wife's fortune, behaved insultingly, cynically, and sometimes insanely towards George's mother. In the end, she took the child and left for her native Scottish calm in Aberdeen. And Byron's father soon committed suicide. Probably, the family tragedy left its mark on both the character and fate of Byron. At the age of ten, George received the title of lord, ownership of the family castle and the role of the main representative of the Byron family.

Byron was supposed to enter an aristocratic boarding school. He chose school in Garrow. Here he deeply studied history, philosophy, geography, ancient literature (in the originals) and played a lot of sports. Despite his lameness - due to polio at the age of three, Byron had a limp on his right leg - he fenced well, played cricket on the school team, and was an excellent swimmer. In 1809, he swam across the mouth of the Tagus River, overcoming the rapid current at the moment of ocean tide. In 1810, he crossed the Dardanelles from the city of Abydos to Sestos in one hour and ten minutes. The Italians called him "the English fish" after he won a swim in Venice in 1818, staying on the water for four hours and twenty minutes and covering a distance of several miles.

Byron began writing poetry early, translated a lot from ancient Greek and Latin, but began to seriously study poetry while already a student at Cambridge University.

In his youthful poems, he flaunted the glory of love and revelry, but having published the first book of 38 poems, he immediately destroyed it on the advice of a family friend, who criticized him for his immodesty and sensuality of details.

The real Byron begins with his love for Mary Ann Chaworth. He met her as a child, and at the age of fifteen he fell in love with her passionately. Then I met her when she was already married and became convinced that my feelings for her had not faded away. Then poems appeared, which many consider masterpieces of poetic art.

In the same year, the poet went to Portugal and Spain, then to Albania and Greece. For two years he traveled, as he said, “to study the political situation.”

The events that Byron witnessed - and this was primarily the capture of Spain by Napoleonic troops and the guerrilla war there - inspired him to write the poem. On October 31, 1809, he began writing the poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. The first song tells about the hero, the jaded young man Childe Harold, who sails to Spain, where there is a war with Napoleon's army. The Spanish people stand up to defend their homeland. Byron, already on his own behalf, appeals to him:

To arms, Spaniards! Vengeance! Vengeance!

The spirit of the Reconquista is calling to its great-grandchildren.

...Through the smoke and flames he calls: forward!

The Reconquista is a reminder of the eight hundred years of heroic struggle of the Spanish people to retake the country from the Moors.

In Greece, Byron studies modern Greek and writes down folk songs. Then Greece was occupied - it was part of the Ottoman Empire. Byron meets with one of the leaders of the struggle for Greek independence, Andreas Londos, and translates “The Song of the Greek Rebels.” Of course, such an act of the poet aroused admiration in many countries among freedom-loving people.

In the summer of 1811, Byron returned to England. He saw the need the people in his homeland were in. It was at this time that the unemployed weavers and spinners, reduced to extreme poverty, who had been driven out onto the streets by the introduction of weaving and spinning machines, were gathering into detachments in Sherwood Forest under the leadership of Ned Ludd. The Luddites, as they called themselves, broke into workshops and smashed machines. On February 27, 1812, a bill introducing the death penalty for machine tool destroyers was to be discussed in the House of Lords. Byron took the side of the weavers.

Lord Byron's speech in defense of the Luddites is recognized as one of the best examples of oratory. Before voting, he writes another poem full of sarcasm, calling it “Ode”:

Britain will prosper with you,

Treat it by managing it together,

Knowing in advance: the medicine will kill!

Weavers, scoundrels, are preparing an uprising:

They ask for help. Before every porch

Hang them all near the factories as a warning!

Correct the mistake - and that's the end of it!

In need, scoundrels, they sit without a half-life.

And the dog, starving, will steal.

Having pulled them up for breaking the coils,

The government will save money and bread.

It's faster to create a child than a car,

Stockings are more precious than human life.

And a row of gallows enlivens the picture,

Signifying the blossoming of freedom.

Volunteers are coming, grenadiers are coming,

The regiments are on the march... Against the wrath of the weavers

The police are taking all measures

And the judges are on the spot: a crowd of executioners!

Not every lord stood for bullets,

They cried out for judges. Wasted work!

They did not find agreement in Liverpool,

It was not the court that condemned the weavers.

Isn’t it strange that if he comes to visit

Hunger is upon us and the cry of the poor is heard, -

Breaking a car breaks bones

And are lives valued more than stockings?

And if this was the case, then many will ask:

First of all, shouldn't we break the necks of madmen?

Which people are asking for help,

Are they just in a hurry to tighten the noose around their neck?

[March 1812]

(Translation by O. Chumina)

On March 10, 1812, Songs 1 and 2 of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage were published. She was an incredible success. Byron immediately became famous.

In the autumn of 1814 the poet became engaged to Miss Anna Isabella Milbanke.

In April 1816, Byron was forced to leave England, where he was simply hounded by creditors and numerous newspapers for his support of the Luddites and for many other things that the prim aristocrats did not like.

Byron went to Switzerland, where he met and became friends with Shelley, an outstanding romantic poet. In Switzerland, Byron wrote the poem “The Prisoner of Chillon” (1817) and the lyrical drama “Manfred” (1817). Soon he moved to Italy. The most significant of the lyric-epic poems of the Italian period are “Tasso” (1817), “Mazeppa” (1819), “Dante’s Prophecy” (1821), “The Island” (1823). He created tragedies based on plots from Italian history “Marino Faliero” (1821), “The Two Foscari” (1821), the mystery “Cain” (1821), “Heaven and Earth” (1822), the tragedy “Sardanapalus” (1821), the drama "Werner" (1822).

In Italy, the poet met the Carbonari - members of a secret organization of Italian patriots. The discovery of their conspiracy and the destruction of the organization put an end to Byron's revolutionary activities in Italy. His pan-European fame and the title of Lord saved him from police persecution.

In the spring of 1823, the poet went to Greece, where he again took part in the national liberation struggle of the Greek people against Turkey. On the way - in the port of Livorno - Byron received a poetic message from Goethe, the great old man blessed Byron and supported him.

In Greece, the poet was involved in organizing and training combat units. On April 19, 1824, he died suddenly of a fever.

In recent years, Byron worked on creating his largest work, the poem “Don Juan” (1818-1823), a broad realistic canvas of European life at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries.

We will end the story about Byron with his own poem.

You've finished your life, hero!

Now your glory will begin,

And in the songs of the holy homeland

The majestic image will live,

Your courage will live,

Freed her.

While your people are free,

He can't forget you.

You've fallen! But your blood flows

Not on the ground, but in our veins;

Inhale powerful courage

Your feat should be in our chest.

We will make the enemy turn pale,

If we call you in the middle of battle;

Our choirs will begin to sing

About the death of a valiant hero;

But there will be no tears in my eyes:

Weeping would insult the glorious dust.

(Translation by A. Pleshcheev)