Дистанційне навчання 10-A (30.11.2020)
Lesson
Monday, the
thirtieth of October
Theme: George Byron. Life
And Career
- What are your favourite kinds of books? Use the
keywords to help you: poems, plays, sonnet, tales, novels, stories, detective
stories, adventure stories.
Watch the presentation about life and career of George Byron and do some tasks
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Lq1Ka7BVghNWjYoRSsTZlTRuJcrtSpD6?usp=sharing
The Romantic Period
began roughly around 1798 and lasted until 1837. The political and economic
atmosphere at the time heavily influenced this period, with many writers
finding inspiration from the French Revolution. There was a lot of social
change during this period. Calls for the abolition of slavery became louder
during this time, with more writing openly about their objections.
After the
Agricultural Revolution people moved away from the countryside and farmland and
into the cities, where the Industrial Revolution provided jobs and
technological innovations, something that would spread to the United States in
the 19th century. Romanticism was a reaction against this spread of industrialism,
as well as a criticism of the aristocratic social and political norms and a
call for more attention to nature. Although writers of this time did not think
of themselves as Romantics, Victorian writers later classified them in this way
because of their ability to capture the emotion and tenderness of man.
Lord Byron differed
from the writing styles of Keats and Shelley. He was heavily influenced by the
satire and wit from the previous period and infused this in his poetry. His
satire Don Juan (1819-1824) is told in 17 cantos, divisions of long poems, and
is based on the traditional legend of Don Juan. Byron changes the original
telling of the story and instead of creating a womanizing character, he makes
Don Juan someone easily seduced by women.
The cantos follow his
character’s journey as he travels throughout Europe meeting several women and
continually trying to escape from trouble. Byron’s other notable work is Childe
Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812-1816), another lengthy narrative poem. This poem was
largely biographical and discusses many of Byron’s personal travels. It
describes the reflections of a young man who is seeking new beginnings in
foreign countries after experiencing many years of war. This poem is
significant because it introduced the Byronic hero, typically a handsome and
intelligent man with a tendency to be moody, cynical, and rebellious against
social norms.
As we know George Gordon Byron (1788—1824) was the most colourful of the
English romantic poets. There is no doubt that his adventurous life was as
interesting as his poetry; his poetry reflects his own experiences and beliefs.
Sometimes it is violent, sometimes it is tender, and frequently it is exotic.
George Gordon Byron was born in London, but he lived first 10 years in
Scotland with his mother. His father, who had abandoned Byron's mother, died
when the boy was 3. Byron inherited the title Lord Byron at the age of 10, upon
the death of one of his relatives. Then he returned to England, where he
attended Harrow School and Cambridge University. Byron's first book of poems,
«Hours of Idleness» (1807), was severely criticized by the «Edinburgh Review»,
a Scottish literary magazine. Byron replied with «English Bards and Scotch
Reviewers» (1809), a verse satire in which he attacked almost every notable
literary figure of the day.
From 1809 to 1811 Byron travelled through southern Europe and parts of
the Near East. In 1812, he published the first two sections of «Childe Harold's
Pilgrimage». Such verse tales as «The Bride of Abydos» (1813) and «The Corsair»
(1814) kept him in the public eye. In 1815 Byron married Anne Isabella Mibanke,
they had a daughter, Ada, but their marriage wasn't happy and a long one. Rumours
that Byron had committed incest with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, broke
Byron's marriage and he had to leave England forever.
Byron went to Switzerland, where he met his fellow poet Percy Bysshe
Shelley. Then he moved to Italy, where he carried on a long romance with the
Countess Teresa Guiccioli and was involved in Italian revolutionary politics.
There he wrote such dramas as «Manfred» (1817), and «Cain» (1821). His last and
greatest work was epic «Don Juan», it was long, though unfinished. In 1823
Byron joins the Greeks in their war for independence from the Turks. After a
brief illness, he died in Missolonghi, Greece.
First two sections of Byron's «Childe Harold's Pilgrimage» were written
as a fictional allegory with the stanza form and many features of the literary
style of the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser. This work and «Turkish Tales»
(1813—1816) that followed defined the character type known as «the Byronic
hero». This character is the melancholy, defiant, proudly self-assured man
associated with Byron and widely imitated in later literature.
During his last years, Byron wrote historical and Biblical tragedies,
such as «Sardanapalus» (1821) and «Cain». «Don Juan» is considered the
masterpiece of his Italian period. In this poem Byron deflates the legendary
lover Don Juan to the level of a comic epic hero.
QUESTIONS
1. When was Byron born?
2. Where did he spend his childhood?
3. Where did he study after school?
4. When did he travel through Europe and Near
East?
5. What is «Childe Harold's Pilgrimage» about?
6. What other Byron's works do you know?
VOCABULARY
adventurous — захоплюючий
to abandon — залишати
to inherit — успадковувати
rumour — чутка
incest — кровозмішення
defiant — непокірний
proudly —
гордовито
to deflate — применшувати
self-assured —
самовпевнений
Homework
Your task is to
choose the most amazing verse (in your opinion) and analyze it, tell what the
author tried to convey to the reader, what problem he wanted to reveal, etc.
