Byron's Travels: Poems, Letters, and Journals

by Lord Byron, Fiona Stafford (Introduction)

A new hardcover selection of Lord Byron's letters, poems, and journals, tracing his dramatic, scandalous, heroic life and his wide-ranging travels—and timed to the two-hundredth anniversary of his tragic early death

George Gordon, Lord Byron, was one of the leading figures of British Romanticism. The Byronic hero he gave his name to—the charming, dashing, rebellious outsider—remains a powerful literary archetype. Byron was known for his unconventional character and his extravagant and flamboyant he had numerous scandalous love affairs, including with his half-sister Augusta Leigh. Lady Caroline Lamb, one of his lovers, famously described him as "mad, bad and dangerous to know."

His letters and journals were originally published in two volumes; this new one-volume selection includes poems and provides a vivid overview of his dramatic life arranged to reflect his travels through Scotland, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Albania, Switzerland, and of course Greece, where he died. It contains a new introduction by scholar Fiona Stafford highlighting Byron’s enduring significance and the ways in which he was ahead of his time.

Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket. Each title includes an introduction, a select bibliography, and a chronology of the author's life and times.

Genres: Poetry, Literature, Travel, Anthologies

728 pages, Hardcover

Published March 26, 2024

About the author

George Gordon Byron (invariably known as Lord Byron), later Noel, 6th Baron Byron of Rochdale FRS was a British poet and a leading figure in Romanticism. Amongst Byron's best-known works are the brief poems She Walks in Beauty, When We Two Parted, and So, we'll go no more a roving, in addition to the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential, both in the English-speaking world and beyond.

Byron's notabilty rests not only on his writings but also on his life, which featured upper-class living, numerous love affairs, debts, and separation. He was notably described by Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know". Byron served as a regional leader of Italy's revolutionary organization, the Carbonari, in its struggle against Austria. He later travelled to fight against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeks revere him as a national hero. He died from a fever contracted while in Messolonghi in Greece.

Reviews

[levitations · Rating 5 out of 5]

Above me are the Alps,
The palaces of Nature, whose vast walls
Have pinnacled in clouds their snowy scalps,
And throned Eternity in icy halls
Of cold sublimity, where forms and falls
The avalanche—the thunderbolt of snow!
All which expands the spirit, yet appals,
Gather around these summits, as to show
How Earth may pierce to Heaven, yet leave vain man below.

[Vandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

so many thoughts and feelings about this guy. this is a great compilation - it would’ve been cool to get some notes on the context, but just having the letters and journals etc in there with no one else’s opinion or perspective I think made it so I had to come to my own conclusion even if I sometimes had no idea wtf this man was talking about. there’s also several areas where he’ll write a sentence or phrase in another language and a translation isn’t provided which I found a bit annoying !!

I have literally. literally!! hundreds of sticky notes throughout this book for all the wildest bits and one day I will compile my thoughts more properly but man. what a guy.

overall I now have a way stronger parasocial relationship with this guy than I did before tho so it’s a win (or a lose?) overall 😎

[Dr_Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

An occasionally frustrating read due to the lack of annotations ... but what a life.

[Elisabeth Lovelace · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was really interesting to see his life from his pov.

[Acaer · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10