Lord Byron: ‘Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know’?

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) was a British Romantic poet who made a major impact on European culture, establishing the image of the great and fascinating Romantic hero. He led a scandalous life and died helping in the struggle for Greek independence. His career culminated in the epic satire, Don Juan, whose hero contradicts the rakish reputation of his name. During this meeting we will read some short extracts from Canto 1 of Don Juan ( Stanzas 41-42, 60-63, 217-21) and two of Byron’s short and one of his slightly longer poems, ‘She Walks in Beauty’, ‘So, We’ll Go No More A Roving’, and ‘Darkness’, where images of darkness and night often feature. They can all be found on poetryfoundation.org