R J 27 (335)

Erin's Class Summary

Madonna's Class Summary

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"Manfred Reinvented" 4Bk3yklGBdw

Byron audio files (click here and scroll to listen to or download 7 different Byron mp3 files)

The Byron Chronology

Fictions of Byron

Lord Byron Poetry Anthology

The Byronic Hero

From The Longman Anthology of British Literature, 3rd ed.—Vol. 2A

“In Manfred, Byron trades on and pushes to an unstable extreme an established character type, the Byronic Hero. To some, Manfred seems a tragic figure of modern existential angst, with a taint of mysterious crime, possibly of an incestuous nature. To others, he is a case study in narcissism, psychological disease and antisocial pride. And to still others, he seems a gothic parody of this character type. . .” (695).

“The defining traits are a contempt of conventional morality, alienation, burning inward torment, and a heroic defiance of fate. A ‘strange union of opposite extremes,’ Thomas Macaulay wrote. . . ; ‘proud, moody, cynical,--with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart; a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection’” (695).

“The Byronic Hero frequently evokes the Romantic Satan, emulating his oppositional energy, sharing a torment by unredeemable sin, and bearing an anguished heart. Byron’s modern articulation is psychological and dramatic, rather than judgmental and moralistic, the very quality of the Byronic Hero confounding easy determinations” (695).