I had to.
Sense you are my resident Byron expert, I was wondering if you've read Byron: The Flawed Angel by Phyllis Grosskurth. I haven't read it yet but a friend of mine recommended it.
I personally am reading Wildly Romantic by Catherine M Andronik. Haven't finished but I've liked what I've read so far
I don't think I've read the whole thing but I would firmly categorize it in the section of pop history Byron books (and therefore probably not entirely trustworthy to accurately assess a historical figure). From what I remember of it, I think the below quotation summarizes my thoughts.
From John Clubbe's 2002 article Byron in Our Time, published in The Byron Journal:
"What does Byron have to offer us in the new century? On the evidence of biographies that have appeared in recent years, SexPower--that is, predation, prowess, performance, deviations, titillations--would seem the compelling draw. Full-length lives--Phyllis Grosskurth's Byron: The Flawed Angel (1997), Benita Eisler's Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame (1999) and now Fiona MacCarthy's Byron: Life and Legend (2002)--rival each other in degrees of luridness and in the copious detail, some of it undocumented or mere surmise, in which they itemize and analyze Byron's amours with old and young, male and female, kith and kin. The authors' obsession with Byron's sex life seems more financially than intellectually driven; oddly, it is conjoined with censorious dislike of their subject. Even including sex, these books tell us little we did not know before. Why, except for sex, we should be interested in Byron today is beyond these authors' ability to grasp. Neglected when not forgotten completely in the three biographies are Byron's impressive feats as a writer, feats that for nearly two centuries have fired the hearts and souls of countless readers and shaped imaginative and political life in Britain, Europe, America, Japan, and elsewhere."
As an alternative to her book I recommend the books and resources that I list here in these posts:
https://www.tumblr.com/burningvelvet/698853736137768960/here-are-a-lot-of-the-biographical-sources-ive
https://www.tumblr.com/burningvelvet/716180738717925376/i-love-the-romantics-esp-2nd-gen-and-was
Written after swimming from Sestos to Abydos
The Queen of the Night (Simon Quaglio, 1818)
"She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!"
— She Walks in Beauty (1814) by Lord Byron
I can’t explain it, but the fact that William Blake, Lord Bi-ron and Percy Bitch Shelley (yes those are there names. i don’t make the rules) are currently burning in hell… it just brings me such joy 😌. Fuck all 3 of them….. actually don’t do that. Especially not George and Percy. It’s like a 100% guaranteed tragedy rate.