Lord Byron lived as a walking contradiction; both a notable Romantic poet and a man disillusioned from love, he spent his life forming relationships one after another. His eccentricities only grew his fame during his lifetime. He held romance in the highest regard while also deploring the false hopes it brings. Lord Byron’s poetry reflects his constant vacillation between belief in love’s perfect unattainability and its cynical reality. These feelings stem from both his early life and his later love life. Born club-footed as George Gordon Byron in 1788, Byron’s life began in conflict. His father, Captain John “Mad Jack” Byron, fled the country after spending all of his wife’s inheritance soon after Byron’s birth, then fell ill and died in 1791 (Gatton). George Byron’s mother, Catherine Gordon, raised him alone, and her severe mood swings and temper forced him to keep to himself in his youngest days. During this time he became an avid reader, often reading the Bible and books of poetry. He first experienced love when he met his distant cousin Mary Duff, but when she moved away, he moved on. Into Byron’s teenage years, the family maid, May Gray, abused him both physically and sexually. This disenchanted Byron from the concept of romance, although throughout his life he made efforts to reach a perfect love (Trueblood). Byron’s cousin, Margaret Parker, became a symbol of that perfection, and his passion for her inspired his first poetry in 1800. Her tragic …show more content…
Unfortunately, tragic events in his life also brought a sense of disillusionment to his later poems. The contrast within Byron’s romantic and cynical style adds a unique touch that separates him from other Romantic poets. His work, which stood out even in his own time, remains a reminder of the fragility of the idealized idea of