Lord Byron: ‘Genius Poet and Animal Lover.’

In Greece, Lord Byron is a hero and revered as ‘A great and good man.’

Lord Byron (1788 London England -1824 Aetolia-Acarnania Greece) was a genius Romantic poet, humanitarian, animal lover, brave and generous man.

He was the greatest poet in the world of his time.  His own persona and characters from his writings, have influenced many writers of the Romantic movement and Gothic fiction.  The ‘Byronic’ hero, which Byron exemplified in life, and made famous in his writing, is a Romantic hero.  The Romantic hero is not traditionally heroic, but more psychologically realistic and emotionally complex; therefore, more appealing.  Heathcliff from Bronte’s ‘Wuthering Heights,’ is a Byronic hero, and Mr Darcy from Austin’s ‘Pride and Prejudice.’  Byron’s spirit and character have been portrayed in modern day novels and films, such as Phantom from Leroux’s ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ Ian Fleming’s character James Bond, Gatsby from Fitzgerald’s ‘The Great Gatsby,’ or Sherlock Holmes, to name just a few.

Byron, 6th Baron Byron, was unconventional, eccentric and was shunned by the more ‘regular’ members of society.  He was notorious for his excesses, huge debts and affairs with men as well as with women.  He influenced art, composers and literature. Notably, Bram Stoker´s Dracula, is based on Byron: a vampire portrayed as a decadent aristocrat who falls in love with whomever he meets, and has a dark and dangerous ego. He led a scandalous, vibrant life and was famous for his eccentric hobbies.  Byron was also a competent boxer, horse-rider and an excellent swimmer.

Byron once swam from Europe to Asia across the Hellespont Strait in honor of Leander, who in Greek Mythology would cross the strait nightly to meet his lover hero. Byron´s swim marked the first open water swimming event to ever take pace.  This event now takes place every year to commemorate Byron.

His love for animals is well-known.  His poem ¨Epitaph to a Dog,¨ is a tribute to his beloved Newfoundland dog Boatswain who died of rabies, and whom Byron called his ¨firmest friend.¨  Byron had nursed the dog devotedly without worrying about catching the disease himself. Byron had a large monument built on his property in Newstead Abbey in memory of Boatswain and the epitaph on the tombstone reads in part:

¨…Near this Spot are deposited the Remains of one

who possessed Beauty without Vanity,

Strength without Insolence,

Courage without Ferocity,

and all the virtues of Man without his Vices…¨

and, the eulogy above the poem to Boatswain reads:

¨…the poor Dog, in life the firmest friend, The first to welcome, foremost to defend, Whose honest heart is still his Masters own,¨

He lived with several large dogs in all of his homes, in England, Italy and Greece.  Of his second Newfoundland ´Lyon,´ who lived with him in Greece he said,

¨Lyon you are no rogue, thou art more faithful than men and I trust thee more.¨

His menagerie of animals included; 8 large dogs, horses, cats, a fox, a parrot, 3 geese, a honey badger, a crocodile, a heron, a tame wolf, monkeys, and a goat with a broken leg.  All of his animals lived inside his homes and were allowed to roam, except for the horses.  When he was at Trinity College, Cambridge, he resented the rules, which did not allow him to keep his dog on the premises, so he kept a tame bear, and even suggested the bear could sit for a fellowship.

His poem ´There is Pleasure in the Pathless Woods,´ he wrote, ¨I love not man the less, but Nature more.¨  A clear reflection of the love and approval he received from animals, but perhaps felt that he never got from humans.

According to Walter Scott, Byron loved his dogs very much, with the novelist suggesting ‘The companionship of a dog seemed to him almost as necessary as a hat or a stick. A man was not complete without a dog and a dog was scarcely complete without a man; Byron agreed with this.

Byron lived in England until his scandalous separation from his wife, and his huge amount of debt, forced him to never return to England. He went to Geneva, Switzerland, where he stayed with the poet Percy Shelley and his wife Mary Shelley, who would go on to write Frankenstein. Byron then went to Italy where he wrote the Byronic hero ‘Don Juan.’ While in Italy he lived in Ravenna, Venice and Pisa.  In 1823, he decided to go to Greece during the War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, where he aided both Muslim and Christian victims of the war by using his own wealth to help them. He helped raise money for the revolution by selling his estate in England. With Byron´s aid, the Greeks were able to gain the attention and participation of several nations to their cause.

Byron died of sepsis in Greece, where he is considered to be a hero. Byron’s wish had been to be buried alongside his Newfoundland dog Boatswain, but, unfortunately, this did not happen, as English authorities denied the request. A marble slab from the King of Greece lies on Lord Byron’s coffin in Nottinghamshire, England. There is a memorial of Byron at Westminster Abbey, as well as a statue of Byron that was commissioned by his friends, at Trinity College.

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