Lord Byron's Garret ~ A Sharing Space for Sufferers of Ennui

[shereads]

This thread is dedicated to Persons of Artistic Temperment and the Various Friends, Lovers, Cohorts, Confidantes, Counselors, Arch Enemies, Detractors, Advisors, Courtesans and Guttersnipes who, together, conspire to be the Artists' Muse.

Come in, relax, wax poetic or nostaglic, or your skis. Bread and cheese will be served. No one will tell your landlord you are here. BYO ale.

~ ~ ~

Byron was swept into affairs with the passionate Lady Caroline Lamb, the "autumnal" Lady Oxford, Lady Frances Webster, and - possibly - his half-sister, Augusta Leigh. The agitation of these affairs and the sense of mingled guilt and exultation they aroused in his mind are reflected in the Oriental tales he wrote during the period._

"Seeking escape in marriage, he wed Anne Isabella Milbanke in 1815. After a honeymoon "not all sunshine," the Byrons, settled in London._Delays in negotiations to sell Newstead left them financially embarrassed. When bailiffs came to the house demanding payment of debts, Byron escaped to the house of John Murray, his publisher._Meanwhile, his sister Augusta Leigh had come for a visit, and Byron, exasperated by debts, irritated by his wife, and intoxicated with drink, talked wildly and hinted at past sins." ~ Courtesy of the Byronic Society

~ ~ ~

Talking wildly about past sins is encouraged.
Please use the spittoon.

 

[shereads]

http://storage.chatropolis.com/userfiles/shereads/webster.jpg
Engraving of Lady Frances Webster, date unknown

"Frances was the melancholy wife of Byron's friend James Webster. Byron pursued her shamelessly in autumn 1813, despite her initial reservations. When she finally acquiesced, he quickly grew bored and treated her badly."

~ ~ ~

Ennui Challenge #1

Use one of the following themes as the basis for a brief essay, dirty story, poem, illustration, or interpretive dance:

Byron's seduction of Lady Francis

Byron growing bored with Lady Francis

Writers who combine both moments in one scene will be awarded a bonus "Huzzah."

 

[shereads]

Near Askalon's towers John of Horiston slumbers,
Unnerved is the hand of his minstrel by death.
E'en as I grow bored with Webster's wyfe,
And plan to dump her.

~ Lord Byron





Original manuscript of "Ode to Lady Francis," stolen from the Byronic Society by the Garret's anonymous benefactress, "SR." This portrait, credited to Godman, captures SR in an unguarded moment and reveals the vague but troubling weakness of spirit that haunted her during the period between the 2004 presidential election and her kick-boxing class:

http://storage.chatropolis.com/userfiles/shereads/reclining.jpg

 

[mismused]

Near Askalon's towers John of Horiston slumbers,
Unnerved is the hand of his minstrel by death.
E'en as I grow bored with Webster's wyfe,
And plan to dump her.

~ Lord Byron





Original manuscript of "Ode to Lady Francis," stolen from the Byronic Society by the Garret's anonymous benefactress, "SR." This portrait, credited to Godman, captures SR in an unguarded moment and reveals the vague but troubling weakness of spirit that haunted her during the period between the 2004 presidential election and her kick-boxing class:

http://storage.chatropolis.com/userfiles/shereads/reclining.jpg

======================

Sher,

What I would really love to see is who was the "Maid of Athens." Supposedly very young, fourteen(?) or so, she is said to totally have smitten him.

mismused, and thanks

 

[cantdog]

It is clearly possible to be smitten by comely and earnest fourteen-year-olds. You learn to turn it off. That way lies madness and the Hellespont.

 

[shereads]

It is clearly possible to be smitten by comely and earnest fourteen-year-olds. You learn to turn it off. That way lies madness and the Hellespont.

This is your answer to the Ennui Challenge?

It's nice.

Is this before or after he seduces Lady Francis?

 

[neonlyte]

Lord Byron steals into her Ladyship's quarters only to espie her belabouring herself with an ornamental gourd.

"Lord Byron." her Ladyship cries.

"My Lady." Replies Lord Byron, certainly impressed by her versitlity, and not willing to set himself in competition with a vegetable. "My apologies, I thought these were the Maid of Athen's rooms."

 

[shereads]

Hmmm.....

<tapping fingernails on desk>

<more tapping>

I can't take much more of this...this...I don't know what it is. Listlessness. Lack of direction.

<tap-tap>

And what's with the tapping? I hate it when I do that.

I'm languishing.

Nothing ever happens anymore....Oh! Neon posted a story. That's lovely.

<tap-tap>

 

[shereads]

I'm having trouble with this stanza. The last word seems to want to rhyme, but nothing comes to me.

A spirit passed before me: I beheld
The face of immortality ________

uncovered? unmasked? languishing?

Nothing works.

 

[neonlyte]

Hmmm.....

<tapping fingernails on desk>

<more tapping>

I can't take much more of this...this...I don't know what it is. Listlessness. Lack of direction.

<tap-tap>

And what's with the tapping? I hate it when I do that.

I'm languishing.

Nothing ever happens anymore....Oh! Neon posted a story. That's lovely.

<tap-tap>

I've done 5,000 words today on some soppy Valentines Day drivel, you drive hard.

 

[Byron In Exile]

It is clearly possible to be smitten by comely and earnest fourteen-year-olds. You learn to turn it off. That way lies madness and the Hellespont.

When a man hath no freedom to fight for at home,
Let him combat for that of his neighbours;
Let him think of the glories of Greece and of Rome,
And get knocked on the head for his labours.

To do good to Mankind is the chivalrous plan,
And is always as nobly requited;
Then battle for freedom wherever you can,
And, if not shot or hanged, you’ll get knighted!

 

[Guest]

Sher, I revere Byron and his works. I'm not about to write a smut scene about him or, horrors, try to imitate him; but I'll take the opp to share some fave bits of Don Juan (citings are canto and line), a masterpiece of "romantic irony" by the master.

He has the reputation of a rake and scoundrel, but if one reads his work I think he's among the elite of the canon who knew and understood women, even championing them against oppression in his verse. "There is something to me very softening in the presence of a woman—some strange influence, even if one is not in love with them, which I cannot at all account for. ... I always feel in better humour with myself and everything else, if there is a woman within ken."

He was continuously recreating himself, often publically to suit the mob (they wanted dirt he gave it to them, and bolstered his career at the same time). P.

There’s no such thing as certainty; that‘s plain
As any of mortality’s conditions.
So little do we know what we’re about in
This world, I doubt if doubt itself be doubting. (IX.17)
...
And after all what is a lie? ‘Tis but
The truth in masquerade. (XI.37)
...
...And above all keep a sharp eye
Much less on what you do than what you say.
Be hypocritical, be cautious, be
Not what you seem, but always what you see. (XI.86)
...
So that I almost think that the same skin
For one without has two or three within. (XVII.11)

 

[Byron In Exile]

Don Juan II, 179-180

Man, being reasonable, must get drunk;
The best of life is but intoxication:
Glory, the grape, love, gold, in these are sunk
The hopes of all men, and of every nation;
Without their sap, how branchless were the trunk
Of Life's strange tree, so fruitful on occasion:
But to return — get very drunk, and when
You wake with headache, you shall see what then.

Ring for your valet — bid him quickly bring
Some hock and soda-water, then you'll know
A pleasure worthy Xerxes the great king;
For not the blest sherbet, sublim'd with snow,
Nor the first sparkle of the desert-spring,
Nor Burgundy in all its sunset glow,
After long travel, ennui, love, or slaughter,
Vie with that draught of hock and soda-water!

 

[shereads]

Re: Don Juan II, 179-180

For not the blest sherbet, sublim'd with snow,
<snip
After long travel, ennui, love, or slaughter,
Vie with that draught of hock and soda-water!

Good idea! Hock and soda-water might be just the thing.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Don Juan II, 178

And the small ripple spilt upon the beach
Scarcely o'erpass'd the cream of your champagne,
When o'er the brim the sparkling bumpers reach,
That spring-dew of the spirit! the heart's rain!
Few things surpass old wine; and they may preach
Who please, — the more because they preach in vain, —
Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter,
Sermons and soda-water the day after.

 

[Byron In Exile]

Re: Re: Don Juan II, 179-180

Good idea! Hock and soda-water might be just the thing.

I don't know if Hochheimer still makes wine, but I understand it's about the same as Riesling today. I've never tried mixing it with soda water, but it seems to have been quite the thing...

Although not actually a part of the poem, this single stanza was found scrawled on the back of the manuscript of Cantos I and II of Don Juan:


I would to heaven that I were so much clay,
As I am blood, bone, marrow, passion, feeling —
Because at least the past were passed away —
And for the future — (but I write this reeling,
Having got drunk exceedingly today,
So that I seem to stand upon the ceiling)
I say — the future is a serious matter —
And so — for God's sake — hock and soda water!

 

[shereads]

Re: Re: Re: Don Juan II, 179-180

I would to heaven that I were so much clay,
As I am blood, bone, marrow, passion, feeling —
Because at least the past were passed away —
And for the future — (but I write this reeling,

That's so much fun to read aloud. It dances.

 

[shereads]

This is Lord Byron's mother.

http://storage.chatropolis.com/userfiles/shereads/byronmother.jpg

If she's seen in the neighborhood and asks about the Garret, create a distraction. Act crazy. Swat at passersby. We'll need at least an hour to move.

Lord Byron's mother approves of his friends here as much as your mother would.