Hard Not to Love Byron In Love

Edna O'Brien's Short Biography of Lord Byron Crackles With Energy

Oct 7, 2009

Famed novelist Edna O'Brien does a wonderful job summarizing the world of English poet George Gordon, Lord Byron in Byron in Love - A Short Daring Life.

Some might wonder if celebrated fiction writer Edna O’Brien was the right choice for the author of a biography of the legendary English poet George Gordon, Lord Byron. But after an inspiring introduction in which she discusses how she became tantalized by Byron’s eventful (to put it mildly) life, and felt compelled to write this appropriately short biography eventually called Byron in Love—A Short Tragic Life, O’Brien comes off as the perfect person for the job.

The reason is also surprising: O’Brien doesn’t use her fiction skills to put the events of Byron’s life into dramatic action, but demonstrates a brilliance for fine-tuned summation. Consider this passage, about Byron’s reaction to a negative piece in the Edinburgh Review concerning an early poem of his called “Hours of Idleness”:

“Byron was devastated, swearing to have done with poetry for ever, his little fabric of fame among the duchesses had collapsed. In a poem, ‘Stanzas to Jessy,’ that he had written for [John] Edleston, he spoke of ‘destiny’s relentless knife’ which severs lovers, and now he was to experience the relentless knives of critics, couching their spleen and venting their jealousy in lethal pedantry, for the very reason that they could never be him.”

Here O’Brien pours fact, wit, sympathy, and delightful word choice to get us as close as anyone can to the character and spirit of the poet.

No Shortage of Material

It helps that O’Brien had so much material to work with. Born in 1798, Byron’s life can be looked at from so many angles: His life as a poet, his fight for Greece’s independence, which led to his death from malarial fever when he was in his mid-30s, his incestuous relationship with his half-sister, August Leigh, and the list goes on. And not only do we get O’Brien’s fine writing, but also often snippets of Byron’s private writing, which reveal his own talent for brilliant and witty summation. Take this passage about his marriage to Annabella Milbanke:

“It was said of Bryron that he had never let imagination usurp the place of reason, but in those few moments before her accouchement his reason failed him, his hatred of Annabella spiraling, describing her as ‘a nice little sullen nucleus of concentrated savageness.’”

Keats Didn't Heart Byron

There’s one drawback to a short biography of a great poet: There’s not enough room to really discuss the origins and writings of great works. In this case, Byron’s masterpiece, the long poem “Don Juan” gets several mentions, but not a thorough treatment. Here O’Brien’s expertise as a fiction writer may have prevented her from expertly dealing with the poem.

But most readers won’t be bothered by all that. The details surrounding Byron’s life are sufficiently fascinating, such as the fact that after the death by drowning of one of Byron’s great contemporaries, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Byron asked to be given Shelley’s skull. And then there’s this about another of Byron’s great contemporaries, John Keats: On his way to Rome, the ailing poet threw away “Don Juan” in disgust.

There’s certainly no reason whatsoever to do the same with Byron in Love—A Short Daring Life.

The copyright of the article Hard Not to Love Byron In Love in Artist Biographies is owned by Douglas Nordfors. Permission to republish Hard Not to Love Byron In Love in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.