Lord Byron was one of the greatest poets in Romanticism. He was famous for both his notorious love life and outstanding poetry. For Byron, poetry was the reflection of love which, in turn, was the root of poetry. This research will be based on the strong connection between these inseparable factors to study Byron’s emotions when he was in his relationships with Mary Chaworth, John Edleston, Augusta Leigh, Lady Byron, and Countess Teresa Guiccioli, by analysing literary language in some related poems of the Poet. The research will then find out the characteristics of these love affairs, as well as the differences among them, so as to highlight Byron’s characteristics in love.
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER LORD BYRON’S LOVE AFFAIRS AS REFLECTED IN HIS POETRY Supervisor : Đỗ Thu Hương, MA Student : Ngô Hạnh Quyên Course : QH2010.F1.E21 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP LORD BYRON: TÌNH YÊU VÀ THƠ CA Giáo viên hướng dẫn : Đỗ Thu Hương, MA Sinh viên : Ngô Hạnh Quyên Khóa : QH2010.F1.E21 HÀ NỘI - 2014 I hereby state that I: Ngo Hanh Quyen, student of QH2010.F.1.E21, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. Signature Ngo Hanh Quyen Date: 05.05.2014 ABSTRACT Lord Byron was one of the greatest poets in Romanticism. He was famous for both his notorious love life and outstanding poetry. For Byron, poetry was the reflection of love which, in turn, was the root of poetry. This research will be based on the strong connection between these inseparable factors to study Byron’s emotions when he was in his relationships with Mary Chaworth, John Edleston, Augusta Leigh, Lady Byron, and Countess Teresa Guiccioli, by analysing literary language in some related poems of the Poet. The research will then find out the characteristics of these love affairs, as well as the differences among them, so as to highlight Byron’s characteristics in love. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Do Thu Huong, MA for her thorough guidance and enthusiastic support throughout this research. Her useful advice has been a great help to me in completing my graduation thesis. I would also like to offer my special thanks to my grandfather, Professor Nguyen Xuan Huy, for his valuable and constructive suggestions with regards to the thesis. It was my grandfather who brought me to literature and gave me inspiration to do research on Lord Byron. Therefore, this study would not be able to be conducted without his support. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support and encouragement throughout my college years. Especially, I wish to thank my grandparents, my parents, my younger brother, and my best friend Ngan, whose great love and support enabled me to complete this study. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………. iii LIST OF APPENDIXES………………………………………………………. v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………… 1 1.1. Rationale…………………………………………………………… 1 1.2. Aims of the study……………………………………………………. 3 1.3. Scope of the study…………………………………………………… 3 1.4. Significance of the study…………………………………………… 4 1.5. Methodology……………………………………………………… 4 CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND……………………………………………… 6 2.1. Literature theories……………………………………………………. 6 2.1.1. Literature…………………………………………………… 6 2.1.2. Poetry………………………………………………………. 9 2.2. English society and literature in the early nineteenth century………. 10 2.2.1. English society in the early nineteenth century……………. 10 2.2.2. English literature in the early nineteenth century………… 12 2.3. The life of Lord Byron: love and poetry…………………………… 14 2.3.1. Family background and personal life………………………. 14 2.3.2. Love life……………………………………………………. 16 2.3.3. Poetry………………………………………………………. 18 CHAPTER 3: ANALYSIS…………………………………………………… 21 3.1. Mary Chaworth……………………………………………………… 21 3.2. John Edleston……………………………………………………… 25 3.3. Augusta Leigh……………………………………………………… 28 3.4. Lady Byron………………………………………………………… 35 3.5. Countess Teresa Guiccioli…………………………………………… 38 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION………………………………………………… 42 4.1. Major findings……………………………………………………… 42 4.2. Limitations of the study…………………………………………… 45 4.3. Suggestions for further research…………………………………… 45 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………. 46 APPENDIXES………………………………………………………………… 50 6 LIST OF APPENDIXES Appendix Page A Potted biographies of the five figures studied in the research 50 B Lord Byron’s poems used in the research 52 7 8 Lord Byron (1788—1824) CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. Rationale “Lord Byron was in the flower of his age one of the greatest poets of modern times, and his heroic mind had engaged in a cause which opened to his active powers a new career of glory.” Sir Cosmo Gordon, 1824. George Gordon Noel, sixth Baron Byron (1788 – 1824), widely known as Lord Byron, was an English Romantic poet, who is considered one of the world’s greatest poets of the nineteenth century. With a massive collection of highly valuable works contributing to world literature, the genius and dedication of Lord Byron cannot be denied. As “the embodiment of Romanticism” 1 , his compositions always picture the strongest and sincerest emotions in the liveliest way. But what distinguishes him from other Romantics is that Byron’s emotions did not come from the imaginary, but from the reality. He spent his whole life experiencing the world relentlessly, broadening his mind and enriching his soul with fascinating stories of adventures, then collecting every piece of them to fulfill his colourful album of life. With Byron, “strong sense of fact and entire emancipation from the inhibitions of his contemporaries led him to the celebration of ‘unadorned reality’” (Trueblood, 1969). It can be said that Byron is an extraordinary representative of Romanticism. Undoubtedly, his influence on world literature is profound and prolonged. He himself created his own glorious era in literature – the era of Byronism, and became a great source of inspiration for numerous writers of the time. Regardless of time, the works of Lord Byron – among those are the famous Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812 – 1 From http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/lord-byron Retrieved April 24, 2014 10 [...]... novelist Jane Austen…and Lord Byron – the subject of this research 22 2.3 The life of Lord Byron: love and poetry 2.3.1 Family background and personal life George Gordon Byron was born on the 22nd of January 1788 in London His father was Captain John Byron (also known as ‘Mad Jack’), who came from an eminent noble family Captain Byron was a profligate man who seduced the Marchioness of Carmarthen for her... more chaotic and complicated Now it came to the nineteenth century – the century of “the social evil.” One of the most noticeable issues of the nineteenth-century Britain is sexuality According to Lesley A Hall (2004), in the early decades of the century, “libertine discourses and scurrilous obscene satire” came out as a tactic applied by the radicals for “politically revolutionary purposes.” By the... confused about the definition of literature because we have been attempting to build it out of such properties; we have been looking for a group of “common features” and imposing it on what we call “literary works” without acknowledging a fact that there are not always “physical similarities” to define upon, and that “one formulation [cannot] be used in all cases” (p 36) He argues that “a definition needs... poem has its length of 16 cantos, the last one – Canto XVII – was not completed due to his death in 1824 Among the greatest names in English literature, Lord Byron emerged as a phenomenon of Romanticism in the early nineteenth century The influence of Lord Byron expanded far beyond the border of England, and swept over the European countries Sir Cosmo Gordon (1824) claimed that Lord Byron was in the flower... the early nineteenth century in general, and of Lord Byron’s life and poetry in particular Although this is only a small-scale research and its findings may have certain limitations, the knowledge it offers is precious and meaningful, and cannot be underestimated, particularly in the context of material shortage in Vietnam The presence of a research on Lord Byron – the leading figure of the Romanticism... with love, and loved relentlessly Undoubtedly, Lord Byron’s life was attached to love, and was defined by love Francis Gribble (1910) claims that, “Whether a book is called ‘The Love Affairs of Lord Byron’ or ‘The Life of Lord Byron’ can make very little difference to the contents of its pages Byron’s love affairs were the principle incidents of his life, and almost the only ones” (p v) Love affected... century, particularly around its first twenty or thirty years, which was the period before Queen Victoria came to the throne This transition period can be likened to a bridge between two lands, not exactly a new one: the eighteenth-century Britain had been physically left behind in the past, but the typical nineteenth-century Britain had not taken shape yet 19 The preceding more than a third of a century... Bloom (Ed.), Bloom’s classic critical views: George Gorgon, Lord Byron (pp 107-108) New York: Infobase 11 Acknowledging the major disadvantages that Vietnamese readers have to face, I decide to do research on Lord Byron As a person of adventurous spirit, I am always keen on exploring new topics and novel aspects which no other researchers has touched upon before And Lord Byron’s life and poetry, undoubtedly,... sexuality and prostitution were topical issues discussed openly in papers and also in the political system when they introduced Acts, the Contagious Diseases Acts for instance, to take control of the issues Men preferred hedonism and pursued sexual pleasure even without dignity, while women became bolder and more proactive in seeking love They themselves, whose typical image is portrayed as “a right... following questions: - Who are the lovers having the most significant influences on Byron’s love life? - How are their images and relationships with Lord Byron reflected in his poetry? - What are the differences among these relationships? - What are the love characteristics of Lord Byron reflected in his poetry? 1.3 Scope of the study Lord Byron’s poetry varies from graceful lyric poems to powerful . BYRON’S LOVE AFFAIRS AS REFLECTED IN HIS POETRY Supervisor : Đỗ Thu Hương, MA Student : Ngô Hạnh Quyên Course : QH2010.F1.E21 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA. NGHIỆP LORD BYRON: TÌNH YÊU VÀ THƠ CA Giáo viên hướng dẫn : Đỗ Thu Hương, MA Sinh viên : Ngô Hạnh Quyên Khóa : QH2010.F1.E21 HÀ NỘI - 2014 I hereby state that I: Ngo Hanh Quyen, student of QH2010.F.1.E21,