If people ask me (which no one has), what's so great about Byron anyway? I will point them to this.
One of my favorite lines:
Bowles! in thy memory let this precept dwell,
Stick to thy sonnets, man! -- at least they sell.
I can quote nearly all of "She walks in beauty" from memory, but "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" is an example of that beauty which is a joy forever, which is to say, its venom has outlasted its target.
Another immortal passage, this time from Byron's letters:
“As to ‘Don Juan'—confess—confess you dog—and be candid—that it is the sublime of that there sort of writing—it may be bawdy—but is it not good English?—it may be profligate—but is it not life, is it not the thing?—Could any man have written it—who has not lived in the world? and tooled in a postchaise? in a hackney coach? in a Gondola? against a Wall? in a court carriage? in a vis-à-vis?—on a table?— and under it?”
That one Jessica has adapted for a brilliant fic, but I think she's given up on it. Too bad; Byron needs more circulation, especially in an age like this. Maybe I will put it into my own fic, which is progressing apace. So far in my fic I already have references to "Casey at the Bat", Dante, and Schrodinger, who is peeping like Waldo from numerous venues in Sunnydale, though without the stripey scarf.
One of my favorite lines:
Bowles! in thy memory let this precept dwell,
Stick to thy sonnets, man! -- at least they sell.
I can quote nearly all of "She walks in beauty" from memory, but "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers" is an example of that beauty which is a joy forever, which is to say, its venom has outlasted its target.
Another immortal passage, this time from Byron's letters:
“As to ‘Don Juan'—confess—confess you dog—and be candid—that it is the sublime of that there sort of writing—it may be bawdy—but is it not good English?—it may be profligate—but is it not life, is it not the thing?—Could any man have written it—who has not lived in the world? and tooled in a postchaise? in a hackney coach? in a Gondola? against a Wall? in a court carriage? in a vis-à-vis?—on a table?— and under it?”
That one Jessica has adapted for a brilliant fic, but I think she's given up on it. Too bad; Byron needs more circulation, especially in an age like this. Maybe I will put it into my own fic, which is progressing apace. So far in my fic I already have references to "Casey at the Bat", Dante, and Schrodinger, who is peeping like Waldo from numerous venues in Sunnydale, though without the stripey scarf.
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