Primary
Sources:
original writings by and about Lord Byron
As part of their 'Flashback' series, The Atlantic Monthly collected the most famous articles about Byron from their archives, including Harriet Beecher Stowe's infamous 'The True Story of Lady Byron'. Whether you agree with her assessment of the poet or not, it is an interesting study of his character and marriage.
You can also read the introduction to the series and the many wonderful linked articles. These include Paul Elmer More's 1898 article 'The Wholesome Revival of Byron', J. F. A. Pyre's 1907 article 'Byron in Our Day', Katherine Fullerton Gerould's 1922 article 'Men, Women and the Byron Complex', and Jacques Barzun's 1953 article 'Byron and the Byronic'.
Jeffrey Hoeper has created the definitive
Lord Byron website. You can read the complete letters and
journals in .zip format, as well as extensive poetry selections.
There is also EH Coleridge's 1905 biography of
Byron, extracts from Trelawny's
Recollections and a collection of
Byronic wit and wisdom. He has recently added original images
of the Times chronicling the 1824 slander trial over The
Vision of Judgment and the opening
chapters of Ethel Mayne's out-of-print 1912 biography.
Hoeper's site has essentially become a virtual Byron library.
Byron's
Don Juan: an annotated e-text is a wonderful
resource dedicated to Byron's final great work.
Byron:
selected poems at the University of Toronto is a nicely edited
introduction to Byron's most famous works.
Additional Websites:
Suite101.com:
Lord Byron
This website has a nice selection of articles about Byron's life and
work and sponsors a Byron Society. The webmaster also has a separate
site dedicated to Lady Caroline Lamb.
The
Lord Byron Webring
This webpage lists several Byron-related websites.
The Lord Byron Homepage
Unavailable as of February 2003.
Byronmania
This website is dedicated to the 'fact and fiction' of Byron's life.
It's nicely-designed and has many interesting bits.
Lord Byron's
Encounters with Percy Shelley, Mary Godwin & Claire Clairmont
(1816-1821)
This website explores Byron's complex relationship with his fellow
poet, as well as Shelley's wife and sister-in-law. If you are
interested in Byron's exile, this is the site to visit.
Essential Reading: Some of my favorite articles about
literature
Can
Poetry Matter?
This is Dana Gioia's influential and controversial 1991 article for The
Atlantic Monthly.
Oh, to be in
England! Poetry and Self-Pity
An essay by Theodore Dalrymple, from the winter 1998 City
Journal. Dalrymple is a doctor and accomplished writer; perhaps
his most famous work is Life at the
Bottom.
His articles tackle a
wide variety of topics and are wonderful to read. Also check out
What's
Wrong with Twinkling Buttocks?, his summer 2003 article. In
case you're wondering, the title is taken from Lawrence's horrible Lady
Chatterley's Lover.
Boston Comment
Joan Houlihan has a series of articles at WebDelSol which explore the
state of contemporary poetry. Yes, she has lots of fun at the
expense of bad poets. But she loves poetry and makes cogent
points about its sad decline.
If you have a Lord Byron website, or wish to suggest a link, please email me.
Thanks.