Lord Byron Research Paper

Cooper Eyre
Dr. Johnston
British Literature
13 MARCH 2013
Turning Heads in Beauty The Romantic period, year 1785 till 1830 C.E., was a period of great change throughout the world, especially but not only in literary style. This period saw the formation of new countries, new governing styles, and the birth of many new ways of thinking. In this time British Literature was characterized by the work of six major writers, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Percy, Shelly, Keats, and Blake. (Book page 1363-4). Lord Byron, as described by Hipolyte Taine, a French critic of the late romantic, said that Lord Byron was “the greatest and most English of these artists;’ he is so great and so English that from him alone we shall learn more truths
His parents, who ran into money troubles, fell apart drastically, shortly after his birth. His father died shortly after and his mother moved back to Scotland. Born with what was possibly a club foot, Byron spent many years in and out of what the time called doctor’s offices. Not being the most physically active child, he spent much of his time learning and reading, having an extremely retentive memory. Fortunately for British Literature of the time, Byron inherited, not only his mother’s aristocratic pride, but also her radical political ideals (Franklin 1-3). This would come into play once he began to write for himself. Being Scottish, he was well accustomed to the Old Testament of the Bible, Scots identifying with the Jewish community because of religious persecution, which would play a large role in the pieces he published for the Hebrew Melodies in
This works was inspired by the wedding of one of Byron’s cousin, Robert John Wilmot to Anne Wilmot. (Christ 1671-5). This piece describes Anne as he saw her at the wedding. This poem, being one of the shortest composed by Byron, is one of the loveliest and yet has not received as much literary attention. (Needler 19-21). This poem was read and used by Nathan in the composition of The Hebrew Melodies, because Nathan saw this work as being a celebration of the mystical union of the female manifestation of the “Divine Presence.” (Franklin 405). Nathan only chose to include the first stanza of Byron’s work in the melodies however, as he saw the first stanza to creates and artificial stasis, a stasis which prevented progress instead of promoting progress. When Nathan separated the stanza from the following two, the poem transformed the objectification of the women, here Anne, to the symbol of man’s birth into sin and estrangement for the Almighty(Studies in Romanticism p 406) . Here is a copy of the first stanza from the original Hebrew Melodies:
She walks in beauty-like the