Quotidian | Quotes | Lord Byron

Scotch-English poet and playwright, as well known in his day for his writing as he was for his decadent personal life (which included such things as incest, bisexuality, debts, separation from his first wife, and various love affairs).

Byron "created the concept of the 'Byronic hero,' a defiant, melancholy young man, brooding on some mysterious, unforgivable event in his past" (The Literature Network).

Byron was born with a clubfoot, a deformity about which he was extremely sensitive. He inherited his uncle's title and fortune at age 10, and traveled to England. There, he managed to pile up considerable debts and have an alleged affair with his half-sister. Amidst mounting displeasure with his actions, Byron left England in 1816, never to return.

He traveled to Geneva, wrote a bit, moved to Italy for two years, wrote a bit more, and then went off to Greece to fight in the Greek War of Independence, where he contracted a fever and died before seeing any serious action. His body was returned to England, but the deans of St. Paul's and Westminster refused to inter him. He is buried in the family vault at Hucknall Torkard, near Newstead Abbey in Nottingham.