Byron (The Oxford Poetry Library)

Lord Byron was won of the most popular and acclaimed writers of his day, as well as the Romantic Age's most notorious figure. He was a man of the world who traveled widely, and who was actively engaged in the events of his day (he died in Greece where he is still honored for his role in resisting Turkish rule). In his poetry he displays a mastery of a sweeping range of topics and forms which reveal his interest in the long tradition of British and continental poetry.
The publication of his largely autobiographical poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage in 1812 rocketed him to fame throughout Europe; he enjoyed the status a rock star might today. With its Romantic emphasis on the personality of the poet, it established the hallmark of all Byron's verse, and marked the emergence of the infamous "Byronic Hero." This new collection, gleaned from Jerome McGann's Complete Poetical Works of Byron, includes generous excerpts from Childe Harold as well as selections from all of the poet's most important works: The Corsair, Manfred, Beppo, and his great satire Don Juan.

George Gordon was born in London in 1788, of Scottish, French and English extraction. He succeeded to a baronetcy in 1798, and as Lord Byron he was soon to become the most famous poet of his age - with the publication of Childe Harold, in 1812 - as well as one of its most notorious characters, His career spanned a momentous period in European history, in which Byron himself was deeply involved. He left England in 1816, and died in Missolonghi in Greece (where he had gone to join the forces struggling for Greek independence) in 1824.