George Gordon, otherwise known as Lord Byron brought an unfamiliar perspective to English Literature. He was a man of many paradoxes and with a flamboyant and outrageous lifestyle; he shone new light on the Romantic Movement. As a successful poet of his day, Byron established a proud, passionate, and rebellious image supported by painful and mysterious experiences of his personal life (Safier 527). His poetry encountered great critical interest for its "employment of satire and verbal digression, its presentation of the individual versus society, and its treatment of guilt and innocence" (Safier, 528). Byron considered Alexander Pope--an important satirist in the Age of Reason--as a model for him and his writing, thus influencing his own satirical style. To Byron, identity was a sort of magical aspect and the world was destructive (West 55). The idea of himself is that which holds Byron's work together and makes it especially hard to mimic (West 2). He was not only an English Romantic poet but also presented historical tragedy, romantic narrative, ode and especially epic satire to Romanticism. Much of how Byron presented himself was a sort of facade; doing what he pleased to do, living his life without a care, and never quite accepting his own realities (MacCarthy xiii). Despite any disapproval of his immorality, Byron left an indelible impression on social attitudes and reforms with his contradictory manner. .
Born in 1788 in the city of London, Lord Byron has strong Scottish ties. He was the only son of John Byron and Catherine Gordon (Slovey and Haerens 67). Born with a clubbed foot, Byron was haunted with not only a limp but self-esteem issues throughout his life (Safier 527). Lord Byron's father only married his mother for her money, which he wasted, stole, and fled to France with. After the disappearance of his father, Byron spent his childhood in Scotland with his mother.
