The epitome of the romantic literary hero, Lord Byron was as well known in his time for the revolutionary panache with which he lived as for his extremely popular verse. “As a myth,” wrote Bertrand Russell, “his importance, especially on the continent, was enormous.” His many tempestuous relationships were the subject of scandal which only added to his celebrity. His name has even entered into our language to describe a man of deep passion...

This volume of the Freshwater Seas Lord Byron set consists of 54 poems written during the years 1809-1816. Many were included in various editions of longer works, particularly the 1812 and later editions of Childe Harold; others were published in various newspapers and periodicals, especially the Morning Chronicle; a few were not published until after the author's death, sometimes long after. The mood is as varied as were the occasions of the compositions....

For those who love Byron's poetry, the value of this work is not so much the poetry itself as the promise of what is to come. It is fascinating to see how his power as a poet is constantly growing and to see how his enormously romantic heart and soul goes about fashioning itself. Though a young man, he often writes as if he were old, musing on days gone by, especially his schoolboy life at Harrow. He tries his hand at several genres: classical translation,...

Excerpt: "Fugitive Pieces, Byron's first volume of verse, was privately printed in the autumn of 1806, when Byron was eighteen years of age. Passages in Byron's correspondence indicate that as early as August of that year some of the poems were in the printers' hands and that during the latter part of August and during September the printing was suspended in order that Byron might give his poems an "entire new form." The new form consisted, in part,...

Lord George Gordon Byron was the flamboyant aristocratic poet who is as renowned for his personal life as he is for his poetry. The victim of an untimely death, Lord Byron lived from 1788 to 1824. Despite this relatively short life he still managed to create a volume of poetry that achieved him the status as one of the greatest of all English poets. This representative selection includes such classics as "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", a sweeping narrative...

Manfred, a Faustian noble, is tortured by guilt over the death of his beloved, Astarte. He uses his mastery of language and spell-casting to summon seven spirits, from whom he seeks forgetfulness. The spirits are unable to control the past and thus cannot grant Manfred's plea.

Extrait: "En l"an de grâce dix-huit cent dix, nous étions une société de gais pèlerins qui voyagions par terre et par mer. Oh! nous n'engendrions pas mélancolie; passant les rivières à nos chevaux un seul jour de répit; souvent une caverne ou un hangar nous servit de chambre à coucher; sur le lit le plus dur nous dormions d'un profond somme; enveloppés dans notre rude capote, sur le plancher plus rude encore de notre barque agile, ou étendus...

Extrait: " Nous ne te maudissons pas, Waterloo! bien que ta plaine ait été arrosée du sang de la liberté; c'est là qu'il fut versé, mais la terre ne l'a point bu; jaillissant avec force de tous ces cadavres, comme une trombe de l'Océan, il s'élève et va se mêler dans les airs au sang de Labédoyère - et de celui dont la tombe honorée renferme "le brave des braves." Il forme dans le ciel un rougeâtre nuage..." À PROPOS DES ÉDITIONS...

Extrait : "Adieu, colline o les joies de l'enfance ont couronné de roses mon jeune front, o la Science appelle l'écolier paresseux pour lui dispenser ses trésors ; adieu, amis ou ennemis de mon jeune âge, compagnons de mes premiers plaisirs, de mes premières peines ; nous ne parcourons plus ensemble les sentiers d'Ida ; je descendrai bientt dans l'étroite et sombre demeure o il fait toujours nuit et o l'on dort d'un éternel sommeil." À...

Extrait: "JOSÉP: Mon bien-aimé, calme-toi. WERN: Je suis calme. JOSÉP: Pour moi, oui; mais non pour toi: ta démarche est précipitée; quelqu'un dont le cœur serait tranquille ne parcourait point d'un pas si rapide une chambre comme la ntre. Si c'était un jardin, je te croirais heureux et j'aimerais à te voir aller avec l'abeille de fleur en fleur; mais ici..."