Literary Analysis of Lord George Gordon Byron: Capturing the Painful Pangs of Love Through Poetry
Love is responsible for the greatest tragedies in life which leaves a resounding impact on people. Lord George Gordon Byron was a Romantic poet who was alive from January 22, 1788 to April 19, 18241. During his life he was a man of many relationships with most of them ending unsuccessfully and in heartbreak. His first love, Mary Ann Chaworth, broke his heart when he overheard her disdainfully say to her maid “Do you think I could care anything for that lame boy?”2 when he believed they really had something special. Another woman, Caroline Lamb, remained infatuated with Bryon after a brief love affair in which he moved on quickly while she remained head over the heels for him long after2. The characteristics of his poetry generally have a strong focus on emotion and are intensely personal 3, to convey his feelings about his relationships in his poetry; Lord Byron uses many literary devices. Lord Bryon’s poems portray the dull ache and heart break associated with falling out of love; he develops this theme through the use of euphemisms, comparisons and contrasts.
Lord Byron extensively uses euphemisms in his poems “We’ll Go No More A-roving” and “Thou Art Dead As Young And Fair” to soften the literal meaning behind his poems. In “We’ll Go No More A-roving” the euphemisms allows Bryon to repeat the dilemma the speaker is in without being monotonous and avoids directly stating the speaker has fallen out of love. The poem conveys this theme of loss of love as “…the heart must pause to breathe,/ And love itself must pause to rest”, the use of repetition drives home the message of the poem . When the theme is worded like this, it does not have the same blunt connotation as it originally would have if the speaker simply said they no longer were in love, giving the words more emotion. Using euphemisms allows the audience to focus more on the dull ache the speaker is experiencing.
The purpose of euphemisms in “And Thou Art Dead As Young And Fair” is to preserve
Lord Byron extensively uses euphemisms in his poems “We’ll Go No More A-roving” and “Thou Art Dead As Young And Fair” to soften the literal meaning behind his poems. In “We’ll Go No More A-roving” the euphemisms allows Bryon to repeat the dilemma the speaker is in without being monotonous and avoids directly stating the speaker has fallen out of love. The poem conveys this theme of loss of love as “…the heart must pause to breathe,/ And love itself must pause to rest”, the use of repetition drives home the message of the poem . When the theme is worded like this, it does not have the same blunt connotation as it originally would have if the speaker simply said they no longer were in love, giving the words more emotion. Using euphemisms allows the audience to focus more on the dull ache the speaker is experiencing.
The purpose of euphemisms in “And Thou Art Dead As Young And Fair” is to preserve
Cited: 1 "Lord Byron - English Romantic Poet - Biography." The European Graduate School - Media and Communication - Graduate & Postgraduate Studies Program. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2013. . 3 Nakate, Shashank. "Romantic Poetry Characteristics." Buzzle. N.p., 17 Sept. 2011. Web. 16 May 2013. . 4 N/A, Rob. "Romeo and Juliet - Act 3, Scene 5 by William Shakespeare."William Shakespeare - Complete Works of Shakespeare, Biography, Study Guides. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2013. . 2Willis, Karen. Bloom’s BioCritiques: Lord Byron. Pennsylvania: Broomall, 2004. Print