International Byron Society

Hi everyone, Just wondering what ye would consider Byron s most moving lines. I am not talking about the most brilliant poetry - just the lines that touch you. For me, it is the concluding lines of the first stanza of Stanzas to Augusta. "The love which my spirit hath painted, it never hath found but in thee." That almost makes me cry!! I also think So we ll go no more a roving is a wonderfully beautiful poem. Mary

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Mary

Hi Mary, As well as moving, the love which my spirit hath painted is a beautiful image. For me, Childe Harold III, cxv-cxviii are very moving: My daughter! with thy name this song begun! My daughter! with thy name this much shall end!ù I see thee not ù I hear thee not ù but none Can be so wrapt in thee; Thou art the Friend To whom the shadows of far years extend [...] To hold thee lightly on a gentle knee, And print on thy soft cheek a parent s kiss, ù This, it should seem, was not reserved for meù Yet, this was in my nature etc. Also, if you can get past the parodies and bathos of Fare thee Well , I think it is very moving. Elizabeth

Hello Mary, funny you should nominate the first four lines of Stanzas to Augusta , my nomination for the most moving lines would be the last four of the same poem. By the way, I seem to be having problems finding this site via various search thingies. Is it just me, or is anyone else having the same trouble? Speak to you all soon...hopefully.

Hi William, Those last four lines are beautiful. I m having problems with the site too. I key in to it and I find a version that hasn t been updated - i.e, I couldn t find my post on the memoirs or anything. Mary

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Mary

Hi Mary Your apparent difficulty, is almost certainly due to caching . If you ever feel you are not seeing the version of a web page that you should be seeing, click on Refresh Caching is a huge topic area, if you require more information visit the link below which gives a simplistic overview. http://golum.riv.csu.edu.au/%20boconn03/assignment2/report.html cheers Alan

Hi William (and Mary, or anyone else), If you can t put this board onto your favourites for any reason, or you may be away from your computer, what I find easiest to do is to go to www.internationalbyronsociety.org and then click on Forum . The home website is easy enough to remember . Elizabeth

Thanks for an excellent suggestion Elizabeth

''Oft have I thought, twould soothe my dying hour-
If aught may soothe when life resigns her power-
To know some humble grave, some narrow cell
Would hide my bosom where it loved to dwell''
(From ''Lines written beneath an elm in the churchyard of Harrow'')

The date is September, 9th 1807.
Very moving when you come to think of Missolonghi.
Byron is nineteen when he writes these lines !
How is it possible then, not to think of Vladimir Jankelevich'es theory about what he called the ''entrevisions'' of death.

An what to say of the poem ''Adieu'', bearing the subtitle '' Written under the impress that the author would soon die'' !

I find this certitude he would die young very moving and very moving the way he conveys it, either in his poetry or in his letters.
It gives his frantic quest for love and pleasure such a deeper meaning.

Sylvaine