George - plain text
Lord Byron - bold text
Edgar Poe - italics text
Welcome to Celebrate Poe, Episode 243 ˜- Dangerous to Know. This My name is George Bartley, and this is the first of three episodes about Lord George Byron.
A few episodes ago, I talked about the love of Lord Byron and his dog - and hoped I got across the point that Lord Byron was a fascinating person. Then it struck me - it might be a good idea to talk a bit more about Lord Byron because he had such a strong influence on the young Poe. John Allan certainly did not like Byron and thought he was immoral - and Byron did seem to cultivate a bad boy image, but you can’t really understand Poe without having at least a basic knowledge of Byron. - perhaps the most influential of the English Romantics..
One of the reasons I initially looked into the lives and experiences of the English Romantic poets was that I wanted to know more about young Edgar Poe’s experiences at Stoke Newington - Unfortunately, there isn’t a great deal of information out there about Poe’s life at an English boarding school as compared to most periods of his life, and it struck me that one of the best ways to learn about life at the boarding school that Poe experienced was to look at OTHER creative individuals and their experiences at similar boarding schools.
Now don’t be surprised if the voices of the ghost of Lord Byron and the voice of the ghost of Mr. Poe occasionally have similar vocal effects in this podcast. Obviously Mr. Poe will speak with a United States Southern accent, and Lord Byron will speak to what I hope is closer to an RP posh British accent. Being from the American south, the voice of the ghost of Poe is a bit easier for me - I also need to learn more about voice processing. - a topic that I will go into more in a future episode.
The young Poe often almost slavishly imitated Lord Byron in many of his early writings. For example, Mr. Poe’s first major poem was greatly influenced by Lord Byron. Poe’s story, Tamerlane, is about a leader who achieves power and forgets about his true love - for some reason - probably because of Poe’s admiration of Lord Byron - Poe calls Tamerlane’s love - Ada - the same name as Lord Byron’s daughter, Ada Lovelace. Poe seemed to treat Lord Byron almost like an idol at first - then later in his career, Poe found his own voice as a writer.
First - I want to go over the names of some of the main women in Lord Bryon’s life. I was getting them all confused, so I want to give you a handle on something that can be very confusing. First - Lady Caroline Lamb - or Caro - as she was frequently called. Think Crazy Caro - she was the woman who famously wrote about Byron that he was “mad, bad, and dangerous to know,” - but she was often a little unbalanced herself - the kinky ex-girl friend from hell. Now Byron married Annabella Millbanke - think wedding bell - Annabella - and he had to marry her to hopefully stop the rumors that he was sleeping with his half-sister. He also needed the money - so think bank for Milliabank - I know banks seem to be electronic transactions for most people, but I think the idea of a bank is more easy to relate to than a Mill. Byron’s half-sister was Augusta (she was sometimes called Gus.) And the final lady was Lady Melbourne - Byron had this strange relationship/friendship going on with Lady Melbourne - he frequently depended on her for advice - maybe he was looking for a maternal figure because she was roughly 40 years older.
Ghost Enters
Looks like the ghosts of Mr. Poe and also Mr. Byron are coming -
Good afternoon, Mr. Bartley
Good afternoon, Mr. Poe. And this must be Mr. Byron.I am most honored to meet you, Mr. Byron. Is it alright if I call you, Mr. Byron?
No, I am Lord George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, but due to the fact that you are a human friend of Mr. Poe, I will permit you to call me Lord Byron.
Well, aaah, why don’t you sit down and we can start by you telling Celebrate Poe a little about your background.
I was born on January 22, 1788 as the only child of Catherine Gordon and Captain John “Mad Jack” Byron. My mother was of a much higher social standing than my father. You see, she was the heiress of the Gight estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Their wedding occurred just a few weeks after she had divorced her previous husband, and she was eight months pregnant. The marriage was not a happy one, and Amerlia died almost a year after the birth of their third child - my half-sister, Augusta Mary. Oh, do remember Augusta - she will play an important role in the story of my life. After the death of my mother, my father quickly became mired in gambling debts, and my new mother was forced to sell her land and title to pay the money that her new husband owed. Within two years, the entire estate, had been squandered.
My father and mother soon separated. Now my mother, Catherine, experienced intense mood swings and periods of melancholy. I am sure this was not helped by my father always borrowing money from her - money that she simply did not have. One of the loans solved the problem - depending on your perspective - because the loan enabled my father to travel to France. He then suffered a long illness - probably consumption - and painfully died. The problem of his constantly asking for money was therefore solved.
My great-uncle - and this is quite important - died in 1798. I was only 10 years old, but became the sixth Baron Byron of Rochdale, and inherited the ancestral home of Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire. My mother was understandably excited, and took me back to England. But we were quite dismayed to find the abbey in a complete state of disrepair. So instead of living there, my mother decided to lease it to others during my youth.
That is a subject of intense controversy. Catherine was a woman without judgment or self-command. She never ceased to worry me with her constant stubbornness, while she frequently spoiled and indulged my every whim. I really did not know how to please her. I was disgusted by her drinking. In retrospect, I can see there were many occasions when I could have benefited from discipline, but she could not catch me because she was so short and fat.
I have read that other scholars who have written about your life claim that your mother did NOT drink excessively, and even sacrificed her finances to send you to the most prestigious schools - which leads me to ask - where did you attend school?
I received my early format education on Aberdeen Grammar School, and later entered the school of Dr. William Glennie in Dulwich. I was placed under the care of a Dr. Bailey, and was encouraged to exercise - but only in moderation.
I assume you followed recommendations.
Of course not. I could not restrain myself from violent bouts.
I assume that your mother realized the school always had your best interests.
Barkey, when are you going to stop all this insipid ASSUMING!
My mother frequently interfered with my studies. She could be most disagreeable, and was constantly withdrawing me from school. As a result, my classical studies were neglected.
But as I understand it, you were accepted at Harrow in 1801 - certainly a prestigious center of learning.
Yes, but I was a most undistinguished student - I met a beautiful young lady, Mary Chaworth when I was at school, and she was the reason I refused to return to Harrow in 1803. My mother was to write that I had no indisposition that I know of but love, desperate love, the worst of all maladies in my opinion. In short, the boy is distractedly in love with Miss Chaworth. In my later memoirs, I wrote that "Mary Chaworth is portrayed as the first object of my adult sexual feelings.”
That fall, I attended Trinity College, Cambridge. Here I met and formed an extremely close friendship with Mr. John Edleston. In reference to Mr. Edleston, I later wrote, "He has been my almost constant associate - His voice first attracted my attention, his countenance fixed it, and his manners attached me to him for ever.” I later described the affair as "a violent, though pure love and passion". I certainly will not be so vulgar as to describe any tawdry details of my relationships - after all there were severe sanctions against even the suspicion of homosexuality in England.
Mr. Barkley -
That’s Mr. Bartley
Mr. Barley -
No, that’s Mr. Bartley
Mr. Bailey - or whatever - You should not be attempting to correct me - it is obvious you are quite beneath me in status -
Lord Byron - I appreciate you coming here, and have no intention of becoming angry. Now - how long were you at Trinity College?
Mr. Blabberly, I spent three years at Trinity College - some say engaging in sexual escapades, boxing, horse riding, and of course, gambling. I also formed a lifelong friendship with such men as John Cam Hobhouse, who initiated me into the Cambridge Whig Club.
Oh yes, during my lifetime I kept numerous cats, dogs, horses, a fox, monkeys, an eagle, a crow, a falcon, peacocks, guinea hens, an Egyptian crane, a badger, geese, a heron, a goat, and several wives as pets.
Lord Byron, I find your description of women offensive. Let’s change the subject. How would you describe yourself physically - your characteristics?
As a boy, my character might be described as a "mixture of affectionate sweetness and playfulness, by which it was impossible not to be attached", although scholars have written that I also exhibited "silent rages, moody sullenness and revenge" with a precocious bent for attachment and obsession. in height, I was 1.74 meters as an adult. I believe that would be about 5 feet 8.5 inches in the United States.
And some say that, I had a tendency towards obesity - but women and men saw me as extremely handsome.
Well, what would be the average meal for you, Lord Bryon?
I lived on a diet of biscuits and soda water for days at a time and then would eat a "horrid mess of cold potatoes, rice, fish, or greens, deluged in vinegar, and gobble it up like a famished dog. For most of my life, I was a vegetarian. I exercised a great deal, and when I was energetic wore a great deal of clothing to cause me to perspire. Some have suggested that the pain in my deformed foot made physical activity difficult, and my weight problem was the result.
Mr. Baserley - I must point out that I had read about the Ottoman and Persian lands while still a child, and was most attracted to Islam. I later wrote, "With these countries, and events connected with them, all my really poetical feelings begin and end.”
And some have written, Lord Byron, that a central motive for your travels was the prospect of homosexual relationships.
Mr. Bartley, - to use your current expression - I believe you can surmise that goes without saying. In fact, I met a 14 year old boy named Nicolo Giraud who taught me Italian and with whom I became quite intimate.
I later traveled to Constantinople ,and when the ship was anchored waiting for Ottoman permission to dock at the city, a Lieutenant Ekenhead and I swam the Hellespont - a distance of several miles. I wrote about the feat in the second canto of my extended poem Don Juan. Such open water swimming events were more common among the ancient Greeks, but certainly not as widespread during my lifetime. My athletic accomplishment was certainly highly celebrated.
Lord Byron, I must interject here an accomplishment of mine that your feat inspired. I wrote regarding my actions in a brief a work of mine called “The Doom.” It was published in the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, Virginia during May of 1835. It is as follows:
Some of our readers will doubtless remember an allusion in my tale of “The Doom” to an individual who performed the feat of swimming across the James, at the falls above this city. A valuable correspondent, who was the bold swimmer alluded to, writes as follows:
“I noticed the allusion in the Doom. The writer seems to compare my swim with that of Lord Byron, whereas there can be no comparison between them. Any swimmer “in the falls” in my days, would have swum the Hellespont, and thought nothing of the matter. I swam from Ludlam’s wharf to Warwick, (six miles,) in a hot June sun, against one of the strongest tides ever known in the river. It would have been a feat comparatively easy to swim twenty miles in still water. I would not think much of attempting to swim the British Channel from Dover to Calais.”
I am impressed by your - what is the current term - hero worship of me - despite your underlying - but unstated - reservations.
It was during this time that I wrote the first two cantos - or the uninformed - the first two divisions - of my long poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage were published.
Excuse me, Mr. Byron - but we are almost out of time - we better wrap things up.
Perhaps an appropriate way to conclude is this passage for the title page from my work Le Cosmopolite that was originally written in French. Parles vous fancies?
No, I do not speak French.
PITY. But I am not surprised. Then I will translate.
The universe is a kind of book of which one has read only the first page when one has seen only one's own country. I have leafed through a large enough number, which I have found equally bad. This examination was not at all fruitless for me. I hated my country. All the impertinences of the different peoples among whom I have lived have reconciled me to her. If I had not drawn any other benefit from my travels than that, I would regret neither the expense nor the fatigue.
Lord Byron, let’s stop there, and in the next podcast, I am very eager for you to continue your story and describe what it was like to wake up famous. And I would like to talk with you about the concept of the Byronic hero - a type of character that can be found in many characters today - from Tony Stark to Game of Thrones to Penny Dreadful.
Sources for this episode include Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame by Benita Eisler, The Life of Lord Byron by John Galt, The Complete Works of Lord Byron by George Gordon Lord Byron, and the book and CD, Accents: A Manual for Actors by Robert Blumenfeld.
Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.
