Byron's Poetry: Romanticising Nations, Romanticising Individuals – Guided Tour

English poet Lord Byron, described by contemporaries as ‘speaking like Homer and fighting like Achilles’, served revolutionary Greece as both a poet and a soldier. Join us in this tour of The Spirit of Byron exhibition to explore the Greek War of Independence through Byron’s poetic works. Get to know Byron and his poetry, synonymous with the Romantic Movement, and how his works served as an international voice, promoting the need for Greece to liberate itself from Ottoman control.

This tour will feature poetry readings from Byron's famous works such as Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Don Juan and the Isles of Greece, as we explore how the places, actions and people of the Greek War of Independence feature in his works. The tour will also offer insight into the development of the ‘Byronic Hero’ as an enduring literary figure, the structure of Byron's poetry and his use of poetic forms like Spenserian Stanzas and heroic couplets to evoke the Greek plight for freedom. The tour will also compare Byron’s work to the patriotic poetry written by Greek writers at the time.