Creating identity : the role of George Gordon, Lord Byron, in realizing the Romantic poet

Abstract

The Romantic Age in literature was a time of change and revision, especially in the world of heroes and the fictional worlds in which they lived and played. Many socalled "heroes" came into play at this time, but this was not enough for the Romantic poets, especially George Gordon, Lord Byron. The Byronic hero became the solution to the problem created by an unsatisfactory hero. In creating the Byronic hero, Byron changed literature, allowing poets and readers alike to participate actively in the processes of writing and reading. This work will examine Byron's development of his hero in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and how other poets, such as Karel Hynek Macha in his Maj, used the Byronic hero as a model that would help them foster a revival of both literature and nationhood. This work explores why the Byronic hero was adopted and embraced by those in England and abroad.