Questions tagged [lord-byron]
Questions about the works of the poet George Noel Gordon, 6th Baron Byron, better known as Lord Byron (1788 – 1824), or his life as a writer.
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Meaning of "Of which the first ne'er knows the second cause" in Byron's Don Juan
From Byron's Don Juan:
Their poet, a sad trimmer, but no less
In company a very pleasant fellow,
Had been the favourite of full many a mess
Of men, and made them speeches when half ...
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1
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Meaning of a stanza in Byron's Don Juan
Canto 6, stanza 52, from Byron's Don Juan:
Dudù, as has been said, was a sweet creature,
Not very dashing, but extremely winning,
With the most regulated charms of feature,
Which ...
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4
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1
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Meaning of "A phantasy which sometimes seizes warriors, unless they are game as bull-dogs and fox-terriers" in Byron's "Don Juan"
From Byron's Don Juan:
The Russians, having built two batteries on
An isle near Ismail, had two ends in view;
The first was to bombard it, and knock down
The public buildings and ...
- 60.7k
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0
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Who is “very fond of bearing false witness” in Byron’s “Don Juan”?
Here’s a stanza from canto I of Byron’s Don Juan, published in 1819. The narrator has been surveying the talents (or lack thereof) of his fellow-poets, and comments:
Thou shalt not covet Mr. Sotheby’...
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1
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In Lord Byron's "Don Juan," what was the lead character "half-smother'd" by?
This would be the character's first adventure. Julia, a married woman, became his mistress. Her husband, Don Alfonso, was told that she was cheating on him and ran into the bedroom, accompanied by ...
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2
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Are Don Juan and Haidée both Greek, as this line in the poem seems to suggest?
Canto II of Don Juan contains the following, which I found absolutely hilarious:
They look upon each other, and their eyes
Gleam in the moonlight; and her white arm clasps
Round Juan’s head, and his ...
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2
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Did Lord Byron fluff his Greek in his poem beginning 'Maid of Athens, ere we part'?
One of Lord Byron's most famous poems appears, in the earliest editions of his works, under the simple title of 'Song', but is now more widely know by its first line, 'Maid of Athens, ere we part'. ...
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What deeds are emblematized by the cypress and myrtle in Byron’s “The Bride of Abydos”?
Byron’s poem The Bride of Abydos (1813) begins:
Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle
Are emblems of deeds that are done in their clime?
What deeds are these trees emblems of? What myth ...
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Antecedent of a pronoun in Byron's "The Bride of Abydos"
What is the antecedent of the pronoun they in the context below, from Byron's The Bride of Abydos, Canto I, stanza 5?
He is an Arab to my sight, *
Or Christian crouching in the fight. – (145)
But ...
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2
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1
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Meaning of dashes and "no more" in Byron's "The Bride of Abydos"
I came across this verse in Canto I, stanza 5, of Byron's The Bride of Abydos:
That blood – he hath not heard – no more –
Can someone explain the use of the dashes here and the meaning of no more?
...
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1
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Meaning of the word "award" in a stanza of Byron's "The Bride of Abydos"
I am reading a poem by Lord Byron: The Bride of Abydos and I am unsure about the meaning of the word award in Canto I, stanza 3, quoted below. Does it mean a sum of money such as a tip or does it have ...
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2
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Meaning of "let the old and weary sleep" in Byron's "The Bride of Abydos"
I am unsure about the meaning of a passage from Lord Byron's The Bride of Abydos (Canto I, stanza 3).
How are we to understand the sentence between dashes: let the old and weary sleep below?
What ...
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3
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2
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Meaning of "work me more annoy" in Byron's "The Bride of Abydos"
I am reading Byron's The Bride of Abydos and I came across this sentence in Canto I, stanza 5:
'Much I misdoubt this wayward boy
Will one day work me more annoy – (133)
How are we to understand the ...
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1
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Was Heathcliff intentionally made a Byronic Hero?
It is often said that Heathcliff makes for the perfect example for a Byronic Hero. Did Emily Brontë purposely write him that way?
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1
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Meaning of capitalized nouns in a Lord Byron poem
I am referencing to Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (see: Wikipedia article).
Here is the opening stanza of the work (TO IANTHE):
Not in those climes where I have late been straying,
Though ...
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1
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Where is the object in this clause in Byron's Don Juan?
From Byron's Don Juan:
But those who scaled, found out that their advance
Was favour'd by an accident or blunder:
The Greek or Turkish Cohorn's ignorance
Had palisado'd in a way you'd ...
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3
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1
answer
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Apostrophes at the beginning of stanzas in Byron's "The Giaour"
My question is about Byron's The Giaour and the opening apostrophe at the beginning of a stanza. For example:
'His floating robe around him folding,
Slow sweeps he through the columned aisle;
With ...
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1
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Use of 'city' in Byron's poem "Darkness"
In his poem "Darkness", Lord Byron writes:
[...]
The crowd was famish'd by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies: they met beside
[...]
Is Byron employing ...
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1
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Did a specific person inspire Lord Byron's poem "She Walks in Beauty"?
Did a specific person inspire Lord Byron's poem "She Walks in Beauty"?
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
Lord Byron's poem is a classic. Did someone ...
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1
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Why was John Keats called a poet “who was kill’d off by one critique”?
In Canto XI of Lord Byron’s magnificent work Don Juan, romantic poet Keats is mentioned as a poet
who was kill’d off by one critique.
Why he was referred to like that? And which critique was it?
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1
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The grammatical function of "Nor" without "Neither" or "Not" in poetry
I've seen a number of examples of poetry, where "nor" appears without a preceding negative. In these examples, I'm unsure of whether I'm meant to understand the sentence as:
"neither&...
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1
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What does this quote in Don Juan by Lord Byron mean? "Sweet is a legacy, and passing sweet The unexpected death of some old lady"
Sweet is a legacy, and passing sweet The unexpected death of some old lady
I saw this quote in C. S. Lewis's The Inner Ring and I'm having trouble figuring out what it means. What does this quote in ...
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1
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Meaning of "Was given to her favorite, and now bore his" in Byron's Don Juan
From Byron's Don Juan (Canto The Tenth, XLIX):
While this high post of honour's in abeyance,
For one or two days, reader, we request
You'll mount with our young hero the conveyance
Which wafted him ...
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3
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1
answer
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What is the rhythm of the line 'I want a hero, an uncommon want'?
What is the rhythm of the following line from the start of Byron's Don Juan?
I want a hero: an uncommon want,
Is it iambic or trochaic? It's a tetrameter and not a pentameter that I am aware of. ...
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5
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1
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Meaning of "Where juries cast up what a wife is worth"?
From Byron's Don Juan:
Happy the nations of the moral North!
Where all is virtue, and the winter season
Sends sin, without a rag on, shivering forth
('T was snow that brought St. ...
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2
answers
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Meaning of "d-n" in "'T is strange—the Hebrew noun which means 'I am,' the English always used to govern d—n"
From Byron's Don Juan:
She liked the English and the Hebrew tongue,
And said there was analogy between 'em;
She proved it somehow out of sacred song,
But I must leave the proofs ...
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2
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1
answer
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Who is "Luna" in Byron's "To Mary, On Receiving Her Picture"?
Here are the fourth and fifth stanzas of "To Mary, On Receiving Her Picture" by Lord Byron:
Here, I behold its beauteous hue;
But where's the beam so sweetly straying,
Which gave a lustre ...
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3
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1
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Meaning of "Produced her Don more heirs at love than law"
From Don Juan:
This heathenish cross restored the breed again,
Ruin'd its blood, but much improved its flesh;
For from a root the ugliest in Old Spain
Sprung up a branch as ...
- 60.7k
2
votes
1
answer
92
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Meaning of "which some months the same still is" in Byron's 'Don Juan'
From Byron's Don Juan:
By Jove! he was a noble fellow, Johnson,
And though his name, than Ajax or Achilles,
Sounds less harmonious, underneath the sun soon
We shall not see his ...
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1
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Meaning of "The ear becomes more Irish, and less nice" in Byron's Don Juan
From Byron's Don Juan:
It has a strange quick jar upon the ear,
That cocking of a pistol, when you know
A moment more will bring the sight to bear
Upon your person, twelve yards off,...
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1
answer
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Meaning of "and those things which for an instant clip enjoyment's wings" in Byron's Don Juan
Canto 10, stanza 5, from Byron's Don Juan:
We left our hero, Juan, in the bloom
Of favouritism, but not yet in the blush;
And far be it from my Muses to presume
(For I have more ...
- 60.7k
4
votes
1
answer
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Meaning of "but no one dreams of ever being short" in Byron's Don Juan
Canto 5, stanza 48, from Byron's Don Juan:
Some talk of an appeal unto some passion,
Some to men's feelings, others to their reason;
The last of these was never much the fashion,
...
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5
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1
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Why is a cuckolded husband "fit for heaven" in Byron's Don Juan?
Canto 5, stanza 154, from Byron's Don Juan:
His majesty saluted his fourth spouse
With all the ceremonies of his rank,
Who clear'd her sparkling eyes and smooth'd her brows,
As ...
- 60.7k
3
votes
1
answer
117
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Meaning of "With Ismail's storm to soften it the more" in Byron's "Don Juan"
Canto 8, stanza 68, from Byron's Don Juan:
So much for Nature: -- by way of variety,
Now back to thy great joys, Civilisation!
And the sweet consequence of large society,
War, pestilence, ...
- 60.7k
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1
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Stories From the Year Without a Summer
I have seen the story many times: Percy and Mary Shelley (not yet wed) paid an a visit to Lord Byron in 1816. Attributed now to the eruption at Mount Tambora, this year was unseasonably cool. Spending ...
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2
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Meaning of "Hounds, when the huntsman tumbles, are at fault" in Byron's Don Juan
From Byron's Don Juan:
The troops, already disembark'd, push'd on
To take a battery on the right; the others,
Who landed lower down, their landing done,
Had set to work as briskly as ...
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1
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Meaning of "all game and bottom" in Byron's "Don Juan"
From Byron's Don Juan:
That drinks and still is dry. At last they perish'd --
His second son was levell'd by a shot;
His third was sabred; and the fourth, most cherish'd
Of all the ...
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1
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Meaning of "pig who sees the wind" in Byron's Don Juan
From Byron's Don Juan:
Medals, rank, ribands, lace, embroidery, scarlet,
Are things immortal to immortal man,
As purple to the Babylonian harlot:
An uniform to boys is like a fan
To women; ...
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1
answer
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Meaning of "'T was the boy's "mite," and, like the "widow's," may Perhaps be weigh'd hereafter, if not now"
From Byron's Don Juan:
'T was the boy's "mite," and, like the "widow's," may
Perhaps be weigh'd hereafter, if not now;
But whether such things do or do not weigh,
All who have loved,...
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2
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1
answer
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Meaning of "Whose husband only knows her not a whore"
From Byron's Don Juan:
Oh beautiful! and rare as beautiful
But theirs was love in which the mind delights
To lose itself when the old world grows dull,
And we are sick of its hack ...
- 611
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1
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Meaning of "such as had not staid long with her destiny" in Byron's "Don Juan"
From Byron's Don Juan:
Thus lived -- thus died she; never more on her
Shall sorrow light, or shame. She was not made
Through years or moons the inner weight to bear,
Which colder ...
- 121
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2
answers
116
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Meaning of "from crowns to kicks" in Byron's Don Juan
From Byron's Don Juan:
Just now a black old neutral personage
Of the third sex stept up, and peering over
The captives, seem'd to mark their looks and age,
And capabilities, as to discover
...
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4
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1
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Meaning of "a lady with apologies abounds" in Byron's Don Juan
From Byron's Don Juan:
Julia, in fact, had tolerable grounds,—
Alfonso's loves with Inez were well known,
But whether 't was that one's own guilt confounds—
But that can't be, as has been ...
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Meaning of "So shakes the needle, and so stands the pole, as vibrates my fond heart to my fixed soul"
From Byron's Don Juan:
"My breast has been all weakness, is so yet;
But still I think I can collect my mind;
My blood still rushes where my spirit's set,
As roll the waves before ...
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3
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1
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85
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Meaning of "As roll the waves before the settled wind" in Byron's "Don Juan"
From Byron's Don Juan:
"My breast has been all weakness, is so yet;
But still I think I can collect my mind;
My blood still rushes where my spirit's set,
As roll the waves before ...
- 74.4k
1
vote
1
answer
117
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Meaning of "faithful to the tomb, so there were quarrels" in Byron's "Don Juan"
From Byron's Don Juan:
The Senhor Don Alfonso stood confused;
Antonia bustled round the ransack'd room,
And, turning up her nose, with looks abused
Her master and his myrmidons, of ...
- 4,310
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1
answer
101
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Meaning of "Israelites" in Byron's Don Juan: "That all the Israelites are fit to mob its next owner for their double-damn'd post-obits"
From Byron's Don Juan:
Sweet is a legacy, and passing sweet
The unexpected death of some old lady
Or gentleman of seventy years complete,
Who've made "us youth" wait too—too long already
...
- 4,310
2
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1
answer
212
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Meaning of "but beg security will bolt the door"
From Don Juan by Byron:
LXXXVIII
"Oh Love! in such a wilderness as this,
Where transport and security entwine,
Here is the empire of thy perfect bliss,
And here thou art a god ...
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0
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What does Manfred's character tell us about human consciousness?
I'm currently reading Manfred by Lord Byron and my professor said something that I found interesting. In Act 1, Manfred introduces the idea of humans being 1/2 dust and 1/2 deity. Both link to the ...
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0
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Byron's transition from Manfred to Don Juan
Manfred is more serious compared to Don Juan's light heartedness. While Manfred lives within the realm of seriousness and continuous self-pity, Don Juan lives in the realm of cynicism as it brings ...
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