English Bookclub - November 13, 2021 "Hours of Idleness" by Lord Byron

English Bookclub - November 13, 2021 "Hours of Idleness" by Lord Byron
The meeting took place from 10 to 12 at the public library 16 r Pont Lottin, Calais. We were 10 people, and the main points of the discussion were:
- Lord Byron is the most prominent figure of the English Romanticism, which is an English word coming from the French word "Roman" (in the sense of the English word "novel", i.e. a work of popular narrative fiction), which appeared in the Middle Ages, meaning "written in the Roman language", by opposition to the respectable important texts (religious, law etc) which were written in Latin
- Romanticism originated in Germany, and was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalization of nature.
- Lord Byron was born is 1788 and died at age 36, so it's the early period of romanticism. Even though he died young (fighting the Turks alongside the Greeks with an army raised with his own money) he left a huge amount of texts; The book "Hours of Idleness" is his first published book, a volume of poetry published with his own money when he was 19, which made him famous in his lifetime.
- The title Hours of Idleness can be explained by the fact that being a writer was not his job, it was a hobby. He was an important Lord with his estate to manage (pretty badly, he was always in debts) and he had a political career in the House of Lords.
- His poems often mention the ruins (mainly Newstead Abbey, which he inherited), the wilderness of nature (especially Scotland, where he spent his childhood) and love.
- He was more well-known for his scandalous lifestyle than for his poems, including numerous extra-marital affairs with men and women, even his half-sister, and illegitimate children, which explains the famous quote about him from his mistress Caroline Lamd "He's bad, mad and dangerous to know"
- That's one of the reasons he travelled extensivelly in Europe, spending years in Italy, France and Switzerland, to avoid social ostracism.

Thanks for this biography about Lord Byron.