Word: byronism
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...other poet evoked in his contemporaries the burning curiosity, the passionate enthusiasm and revulsion, that Byron aroused wherever he went. It is an understatement to say that people were mad about Byron; people still are-still consumed with the desire to find out what he stood for and why he had such an overpowering influence on everyone who met him. His Very Self and Voice, instead of reaching one conclusion about him, offers the readers dozens from which to choose...
...hundred and fifty men and women who met Byron and wrote about him enter the witness box to testify to his character-and leave the judge owl-eyed and the jury hung. The outlines of the story will be familiar to readers of Byron biographies, but not most of the details, which have been culled from widely scattered sources-diaries, letters, magazines, rare 19th century books...
...What a Pretty Boy." The very first entry (about 1793) warns of storms-to-come. The little peer with the deformed foot is about five years old; he is out walking with his nurse in Aberdeen. Up comes another nursemaid and pipes: "What a pretty boy Byron is! What a pity he has such a leg!" The little boy's eyes blaze. Striking at her with a little whip, he cries furiously: "Dinna speak of it!" But when he meets another small boy with a deformed foot, the little monster's rage turns to laughter: "Come...
Once people became aware of his unpredictable nature, they were filled with morbid curiosity to find out what emotion he would bring to the surface in response to a loaded question. Like a born actor, Byron guessed what they were after, rarely disappointed their expectations...
While washing his hands and singing a gay Neapolitan air, he stopped and remarked casually: "My father cut his throat," then went back to singing. Byron was word-perfect in his monster role before he was out of his teens. Henceforth, the clubfoot and the sensitive heart hid themselves in the disguise of a cold, cloven-hoofed devil. On his brow, at a moment's notice, would appear "that singular scowl" which caused one acquaintance to exclaim that he "had never seen a man with such a Cain-like mark on the forehead." A Pair of Stays. A Miss...