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Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame |
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 Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame byBenita Eisler Random House Canada (Vintage Books) 880 pages, May 2000 Reviewed by Devorah Stone I was lucky. I had an inspiring English Literature teacher in Grade 12 who had a passion for the Romantic writers. All of them. When he recited Coleridge, Kubla Khan or Shelly’s Western Wind, I felt transported back to another time and place. He also brought to life the personalities of the poets. None of the Romantic poets were as vivid in our minds or as scandalous as Lord Gordon Byron. Even by the heady hippie day’s standards of the sixties, he seemed so modern. Lord Byron had done it all and more. And then there was the poetry - the master of the narrative poem, the epic. Adventure filled his poems as they told of the lives of men and women in far away lands. It was a treat reading Benita Eisler’s book. She brought the man alive and while it was impossible to completely redeem him, she did a good job explaining him. Byron had a rough start. He was born with a club-foot, a deformity he learned to live with physically but never emotionally. His drinking and gambling father abandoned him early. Byron’s father only married Catherine Noel for her money. Byron’s mother brought him up on a pittance, and while his social status changed when his uncle died and he became Lord Byron, their financial status didn’t. This book explores the often decadent, gambling, drinking life of the English Aristocracy who kept their wealth by marrying into `common’ but rich families. To understand Byron’s poetry, it's essential to understand his background. He was a scholar who traveled throughout Europe and parts of the Middle East. He was also charming and good looking. His rank, charm and looks allowed him to do things most people of any time would not be able to get away with. The writer of Don Juan had an insatiable sexual appetite. His variety of sexual activity and partners - including his half sister - would even today do more than just raise eyebrows. Benita Eisler leaves the reader to decide whether Byron truly loved any of the women in his life. The author of this book seems to believe that, in his own way, he did. Eisler presents the evidence backed by letters and diaries of the time and her interpretations of his poems. Benita Eisler shows how Byron’s poetry reflected his life. I loved reading about the times and the fascinating people Byron knew. As an English Lord and famed poet, he knew many politicians, artists, intellectuals, aristocrats, monarchs, explorers, adventurers and other poets. I found his friendship with Percy Shelly fascinating. They were two gifted poets with vastly different temperaments and morals. Bonita Eisler brings up the possibility that Percy Shelly’s wife Mary might have used Byron as the template for the monster in her book Frankenstein. If you love literature and history and have a romantic heart, this book is a must. |
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