Russian Secondary School of the Russian Embassy in Denmark George Gordon Byron Project work designed by Nina Sukhanova, English teacher Copenhagen, 2012

Aims: attract pupils’ attention to the life and creative work of G. Byron develop pupils’ interest in British literature, poetry develop critical thinking Purposes: train in reading enrich vocabulary practise analyzing

George Gordon Byron

A great English revolutionary poet George Gordon Byron was born in 1788 in an old aristocratic family living at 24 Holles Street in London.

The poet’s mother Catherine Gordon ( ) heiress of Gight in Aberdeenshire, Scotland came from a rich Scottish family. Catherine Gordon was taught to read at a young age and had a passion for literature, a passion she shared with her son.

Captain John “Mad Jack” Byron was the poet’s father. He was a poor army officer who died when the boy was three years old

The family lived in Scotland

George went to a Grammar school. He liked History and read much about Rome, Greece and Turkey. He remembered, ”I read eating, read in bed, read when no one else read, since I was five years old”. Aberdeen Grammar SchoolAberdeen Grammar School

The boy was born lame, but he liked sports and trained every day. He could ride a horse very well, was a champion swimmer, a boxer and took part in athletic activities

In 1798 Byron`s grand- uncle died and the boy inherited the title of lord and the family estate Newstead Abbey in Notting Hamshire. Lord Byron’s estate

In 1801 George was sent to Harrow, where he went to school and remained until July 1805.

A schoolboy of sixteen, he fell in love with a girl, Mary Chaworth.

In the poem “Dream” the poet speaks about his love. “And both were young, and one was beautiful: And both were young, and not alike in youth As the sweet moon on the horizon`s verge The maid was on the eve of womanhood: The boy had fewer summers, but his hear Had outgrown his years, and to his eye There was but one beloved face on earth And that was shining on him.”

At seventeen G.Byron entered Cambridge University where his literary career began. In1808 G.Byron graduated from the University In 1807, when he was a student, he published his first collection of poems “Hours of Idleness”.

In 1809 he went travelling and visited Portugal, Spain, Greece and Turkey.

G.Byron described his travels in a long poem “Childe Harold `s Pilgrimage”. The first two parts were published in 1812 and made G.Byron famous. “I woke one morning and found myself famous,” said the poet about his success.

George lives in Picadilly, London. After some years of travelling G.Byron returns home.

G.Byron inherited the right to be the Member of Parliament.

In his first speech in the House of Lords G.Byron defended the English proletariat. He accused the government of the exploitation of workers.

In 1815 George Byron married Miss Isabella Milbank. They had a daughter Augusta Ada, whom George loved very much.

Byron`s revolutionary speeches in the Parliament and his divorce with Isabella Milbank helped his enemies to begin an attack against the poet. Byron was accused of immorality and had to leave England for Switzerland.

In Switzerland he met Percy Bysshe Shelly and the two poets became friends. Byron enjoyed nature and wrote a lot of poems. Percy Bysshe Shelly

“ I had a dream, which was not a dream. The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; Morning came and went and came, and brought no day, And they did live by watchfires - and the thrones, The palaces of crowned Kings-the huts… The rivers, the lakes, and the ocean all stood still, And nothing stirred within their silent depths; Ships sailerless lay rotting on the sea, And their masts went down piecemeal; as they dropped They slept on the abyss without a suge - The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave, The Moon, their Mistress, had expired before; The winds were withered in the stagnant air, And the clouds perished; Darkness had no need Of aid from them- She was the Universe.” G.Byron.

In 1817 Byron went to Italy where he lived until Italy was under the rule of the Austrians at that time. The poet joined the carbonary, a revolutionary organization struggling for national independence of Italy.

In Italy Byron wrote many of his best poems: “Don Juan” ( ) - a satire on bourgeois and aristocratic society, “Cain” (1821). During the same period he wrote his satirical masterpieces “The Vision of Judgement”(1822) and the “Age of Bronze” (1823).

In “Don Juan” G.Byron says: “I will teach, if possible, the stones to rise against earth’s tyrants.”

The poet went to Greece and joined the people in their struggle against Turkey. The struggle for national independence has become the aim of his life. In that struggle he showed himself as a good military leader.

The struggle for national independence has become the aim of his life In the Greek town of Missolonghy G.Byron fell ill with typhus and died in April 1824.

June, 1824 George Byron was buried in Haknoll Torkard family estate near Newstead

George Gordon Byron "Your name and dignity surpass the names and achievements of your contemporaries. The whole world thinks so. " From the letters to G.Byron, 1824.